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The Politics of Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation: 1998-2009

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Leonid Petrov
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It has been ten years since the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) embarked on a path of change. The first major course correction occurred in 1998 when the DPRK amended its constitution. A new cost accounting system in economic management was introduced, and a new political line of Songun (Army-First Politics) was promulgated in addition to the Juche ideology of national self-reliance. Although this adapted form of Marxism-Leninism continued to guide the country on its way to “Korean-style socialism,” the proposed changes would bring some elements of economic liberalisation and commercialisation of the economy. As part of this cautious plan, several enclaves scattered across the country were allocated by the DPRK government exclusively for inter-Korean cooperation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 7 , Issue 29 , July 2009 , e3
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2009

References

Notes

[1] The author's personal observations made during his visits to the DPRK in 1999, 2004, 2005, and 2007 and to the ROK in 2003-2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 are used in this paper.

[2] Andrei Lankov, ‘North Korea dragged back to the past’, Asia-Times on-line (24 January 2008).

[3] The North Korean staff was so proactive in communicating with South Koreans and other foreigners that one could suspect them of deliberately collecting information from visitors.

[4] “Monthly Recap: March”, NK Brief, No. 08-4-1-1, Institute for Far Eastern Studies (01 April 2008)

[5] Sabine Burghart and Ruediger Frank, ‘Inter-Korean Cooperation 2000-2008: Commercial and Non-commercial Transactions and Human Exchanges’, in Ruediger Frank, Vienna Working Papers on East Asian Economy and Society (Vol.1, No.1, 2008), p.13.

[6] Sunny Lee, ‘South Korea's Sunshine Policy Strikes Back’, Asia Times on-line (7 May 2008).

[7] ‘KCNA blasts rubbish of S. Korean “ambassador” to Russia’, KCNA (6 April 2000).

[8] Currently the North's per capita income is estimated roughly at no more than $1,700. Source.

[9] ‘NKorea Threatens to Cut All Dialogue with SKorea’, AFP (30 March 2008)

[10] KCNA Report (29 March 2008).

[11] Song Jung-a, ‘Pyongyang Expels 11 S.Korean Managers’, The Financial Times (27 March 2008).

[12] “A Week after the Mt. Kumgang Incident, Three Things the DPRK will Lose”, Herald Media (18 July 2008)

[13] Kim Sue-young, ‘Inter-Korean Business Procedures Simplified’, The Korea Times (27 October 2008)

[14] North Korea Newsletter No. 28, Yonhap News (6 November 2008).

[15] Lee Chi-dong, ‘Already-troubled inter-Korean ties risk being severed’, Yonhap News (16 October 2008).

[16] ‘SKorea in new bid to halt anti-Pyongyang leaflets’, AFP (19 November 2008).

[17] ‘DPRK Army Announces Five Measures on Bilateral Ties with ROK’, Xinhua News Service (24 November 2008)

[18] ‘N.Korea to Block Entry of S.Korean Newspapers, Magazines’, Korea Herald (01 December 2008)

[19] ‘SK Companies in Kaesong withhold Pay to NK Staff’, Dong-A Ilbo (15 June 2009)

[20] ‘N. Korea Scraps Gaeseong Contracts’, The Korea Times (15 May 2009).

[21] Andrei Lankov, ‘Pyongyang puts politics above dollars’, Asia Times On-line (26 November 2008).

[22] Jung Kwon Ho, ‘There Is an Internal Reason for the Bluff on Kaesong’, The Daily NK (16 November 2008).

[23] ‘N. Korea's Pointman on inter-Korean Relations Executed: Sources’, Yonhap (18 May 2009).

[24] Burghart and Frank, ‘Inter-Korean Cooperation 2000-2008, p.6.

[25] Kim Jong-il, ‘Giving Priority to Ideological Work is Essential for Accomplishing Socialism’, Pyongyang (19 June 1995)