Hacker News Reader

"Though the official won-dollar exchange rate is about 130 won to $1, the source said that the unofficial (or black market) rate is closer to 7,300-1." ( 2014 )

http://www.nknews.org/2014/09/black-market-cash-the-real-val...

Appears to be very off. xe.com has it at 3,000 KPW to about 22.49 USD[1]

[1] http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=3000&Fro...

That's probably an official exchange rate, with the currency being much weaker unofficially.

I'm reasonably sure that you could not buy cabbages in the United States for that price/pound. From what I remember when I still had a garden, you'd be a little pressed to buy seed to grow cabbage that cheaply.

http://www.thepacker.com/vegetables/cabbage/commodity-pricin... says that bulk price for cabbage is around $0.26-30 per pound, so your grocery store is in fact buying it wholesale cheaper than North Koreans are paying retail.

California agriculture is a scientific miracle.