China’s official news agency Xinhua reported that North Korea conducted a currency revaluation on November 30. This made previous money obsolete, which prompted stores in Pyongyang to stop operations.

Xinhua News Agency said in its report from Pyongyang that store sales representatives commented they had not received orders from above on how to price products after the currency reform. They said this made it impossible to sell products, and that about a week needs to pass for the situation to normalize.

The news agency said that North Korea notified the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang on December 1 that it began the nation's currency revaluation from November 30.

Pyongyang reportedly did not specify reasons for the reform.