Economic Policy

Friends in Need: Choe Swoops in on DPRK-Russia Relations

By | November 15, 2014

On Monday, Korean Workers’ Party Secretary Choe Ryong-hae will embark upon an extended visit to Russia as a special representative of the Kim government. In this, his debut essay for Sino-NK, analyst Anthony Rinna looks at the potential of the visit, and its limitations.

Chosun Ilbo Surveys 100 North Koreans

By | July 28, 2014

The results of a recent survey conducted by Chosun Ilbo of visa-holding North Koreans in the Sino-North Korean borderlands offer a rare, if imperfect, glimpse of domestic public opinion in the DPRK. Christopher Green analyzes the findings.

Politics and Pollack: It Takes a Nation of Fishes

By | July 24, 2014

Bringing his Politics and Pollack series to a close, Robert Winstanley-Chesters explores the most recent pelagic developments in North Korea, focusing on the January 8 Fishing Station and the problematic notion of “charismatic time.”

After the Collapse: The Formalization of Market Structures in North Korea, 1994-2010

By | June 09, 2014

With the collapse of the state-run distribution service in North Korea, market trading, selling, and buying became a means of survival. What started then is now an integral and formalized part of economic and social life. Peter Ward’s second review concerns Joung Eun-lee’s article on market development in North Korea from the early 1990s to the present.

Vanadium and Socialism: Rare Earth Prospecting, Politics, and History in North Korea

By | April 28, 2014

Behind every cloud there is a silver lining and behind every developmental story in North Korea there is a narrative from Kim Il-sung. Robert Winstanley-Chesters investigates the pre-history of SRE Minerals’ contemporary Rare-Earth gambit.