Entrepreneurs in North Korea aren't as rare as you'd think

Ian Collins, an Australian instructor at Choson Exchange, ran a four-day workshop for 80 people north of Pyongyang, in November

North Korea may seem like barren ground for entrepreneurs. But hearty founders have defied a lack of technology and support to start their own ventures, even before this week’s historic summit in Singapore raised the prospect of more economic opportunity.

There’s an e-commerce site called Manmulsang — which means the everything store, in a nod to Amazon.com Inc. — and Okryu, a mobile-shopping service. There’s also a navigation app, Gildongmu 1.0, which means road friend. Founders need to overcome some unusual obstacles. The only way for customers to get new smartphone apps, for example, is to go to a brick-and-mortar store