North Korea's official exchange rate will remain a fantasy, completely detached from the black-market rate used by most traders. The North Korean won's unofficial exchange rate is not expected to strengthen much in 2011-12. Traders' willingness to deal in the currency is likely to have been severely undermined by the 2009 redenomination, which rendered virtually worthless the won holdings of many outside the country. The increasingly unstable political outlook will put further pressure on the currency's value.