Pyongyang’s cash-strapped totalitarian regime has offered to settle part of its debt to the Czech Republic with a large consignment of ginseng rather than eat into its limited funds.
Czech officials confirmed that Pyongyang had offered to settle 5 per cent of its Kc186m ($10m) in accumulated debt in ginseng, an invigorating root used in dietary supplements and teas that are supposed to improve memory, stamina and libido. Communist Czechoslovakia was a leading supplier of heavy machinery, trucks and trams to North Korea.
Non-cash trade and settlement of debt has been common among socialist countries. Cuba compensates Venezuela for discounted oil by sending doctors to work in deprived areas.
You know there's a joke about Cash or Czech only just waiting to be made..
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