North Korea's plan to limit wealth through a currency exchange has caused nothing but problems. Early on, it led to riots (and fatalities), and later the government eased the upper limit on wealth that could be held. The situation has become so difficult that the regime has even issued an apology. North Korean premier Kim Jong-il, according to a South Korean activist group, has come out and said the country is sorry.

"During a meeting of senior members of the Pyongyang municipal people's committee a few days ago, Kim Yong-il apologized for confusion and instability in the daily lives of people caused by wrongly fixed prices at state-run shops from the time of the currency reform to early this year," said the Good Friends newsletter.

Nobody -- and I mean nobody -- has been secure over the past year and a half as the recession has touched every leader in every organization in every country. Does 'every' sound a bit extreme? Well, the latest news out of North Korea warrants it. The top dog over at North Korea's secret treasury, Kim Dong Un, has been bounced, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

North Korea's secret treasury, also known as Room 39, is one of the most secretive organizations in the most secretive country in the world. Its purpose is to bring foreign currency into a country whose own paper is of no value to anyone but coin collectors. Rumors abound as to how Room 39 actually accomplishes this, including forgery, drug trade and weapons trafficking among the means used.

Even though the regime has loosened some of the restrictions on currency exchange, inflation is still skyrocketing in North Korea. The government recently announced that it was moving to a new currency, and that the swap would involve a limit on how much could be traded. As a result, personal wealth was being consciously constrained, which led to the open questioning of the regime, defiance and rioting in some cases, and even a rare instance of flexibility among Kim Jong Il's subordinate decision makers.

Reports from inside the isolated communist state suggest that food shortages and price inflation have resulted from the new monetary policy, exacerbating a difficult situation with which the country already had to cope.

It took two dead and a few weeks for Kim Jong Il to realize that using a currency exchange to cap wealth was probably a bad idea. Earlier this month, the North Korean leader announced a currency revaluation – without giving any warning. Paired with a currency exchange, citizens of the most isolated country on the planet would not be allowed to swap more than $40 of the old bills for the new. So, even the (relatively) wealthy would be left with $40 and piles of worthless paper.

The response was surprisingly negative. And, the fact that there was a response was surprising. Normally, the regime does a solid job of preventing any significant visible disagreement. This time around, the situation was different. The country, hit hard by famines, power shortages and profoundly depressed morale, voiced its displeasure with the decision. A riot broke out in one city, leaving two killed.

The timing couldn't have been worse. Just as a U.S. envoy arrived in North Korea to meet with the reclusive regime's officials, protests and violence are reported to have erupted. The country is reacting to a new currency issue that is being used to seize most of the citizens' money and savings.

On November 30, 2009, the regime announced that it would issue new currency and cap the amount that could be exchanged at the equivalent of $40. This effectively rendered the money held privately worthless.

North Koreans don't need DVR technology any more. The most important purpose of these devices -- to fast forward through commercials -- no longer applies, now that the reclusive Communist state has banned television commercials from the airwaves.

According to the Yonhap news agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was upset when he saw commercials showing up on Korean Central Television in early July. The report quotes a source close to Kim as saying the ruler's response to the ad was: "What is this? That kind of rubbish appeared when China started reforms and openness." He was obviously pissed and hasn't been open to suggestions that he follow China's lead in embracing a limited form of capitalism.