Kim Jong-Il has free market fever after seeing China's boomtowns

AP photo

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has ordered his Cabinet and the Workers' Party to appoint economic technocrats to major foreign missions in an effort to learn from outside economies, a government official in Seoul said.

The order came after Kim returned last month from a nine-day trip to China's southern booming commercial cities, including Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Shenzhen. Kim was evidently impressed by the thriving economy of his nation's red capitalist neighbor. READ ON.