If North Korea's economic transformation has been largely informal and contested at the level of the state, to what extent is North Korea's economic transformation reflected in North Korean economic research? In this article, we analyze a dataset of North Korean domestic journal articles on...

Some economies are "black holes" where reliable data is scarce due to government control, low capacity, or conflict. Despite these challenges, researchers have found ways to gather useful information. This paper draws on the literature on North Korea to review six key methods: satellite imagery,...

Authoritarian states are increasingly leveraging non-state cyber capabilities to expand their operational reach, thereby challenging conventional distinctions between state and non-state activity. This practice complicates attribution and presents obstacles for coordinated international...

Authoritarian states are increasingly leveraging non-state cyber capabilities to expand their operational reach, thereby challenging conventional distinctions between state and non-state activity. This practice complicates attribution and presents obstacles for coordinated international...

Over the past several years, North Korea has adopted legal changes that are increasing the centrality of the Workers Party of Korea and the state in agricultural production, distribution, and consumption. This development changes the basic nature of food insecurity in North Korea from one in...

Some economies are "black holes" where reliable data is scarce due to government control, low capacity, or conflict. Despite these challenges, researchers have found ways to gather useful information. This paper draws on the literature on North Korea to review six key methods: satellite imagery,...

Driven by both political camps in Seoul, relations between South Korea and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have deepened significantly since their initiation in 2005. While this intensified relationship was shaped to a large extent by geopolitical developments and increasing...

This paper is interested in the spread of an autocratic ideology and the emergence of a societal belief. It is often assumed that the greater the capacities of an autocratic regime to inculcate an ideological belief into the minds and hearts of subordinate citizens, the more an autocratic...

Sanctions have a long history dating several centuries. There has been a significant increase of sanctions after World War II. Those against Iran and Russia are at present in focus for the discussion of sanctions, but also other countries as Cuba and North Korea are sanctioned. There are several...

While heated debates in Europe have focused on how to respond if Donald J. Trump is re-elected to the White House, discussions in Australia, Japan, and South Korea reveal a greater sense of confidence in Washington's commitments. The fear that the United States would withdraw its nuclear...

Sanctions have a long history dating several centuries. There has been a significant increase of sanctions after World War II. Those against Iran and Russia are at present in focus for the discussion of sanctions, but also other countries as Cuba and North Korea are sanctioned. There are several...

At least since Russia deployed North Korean artillery and ballistic missiles against Ukraine, it is obvious that Pyongyang fuels conflicts far beyond North-East Asia. Yet, the indirect threats that North Korea poses to Europe's security and stability have developed a new quality: Pyongyang is...

While heated debates in Europe have focused on how to respond if Donald J. Trump is re-elected to the White House, discussions in Australia, Japan, and South Korea reveal a greater sense of confidence in Washington's commitments. The fear that the United States would withdraw its nuclear...

This paper investigates the economic costs of the recent United Nations sanctions on North Korea. Exploiting a novel data set on North Korean firms, we construct measures of regional exposure to export and intermediate input sanctions and show that trade sanctions cause sharp declines in local...

South Korea has been late to embrace the concept of the Indo-Pacific. Its strategic approach developed from initial neglect to mere tactic acknowledgment and careful engagement under the Moon administration (2017-2022), to the now clear support for a distinct Indo-Pacific strategy under the Yoon...

(Korean Abstract) 본 연구는 김정은 위원장 집권 10년을 정권 승계기(2011년 12월~2012년), 집권 1기(2013~17년), 집권 2기 (2018~21년)로 구분하여 각 집권 시기별로 북한이 추진하였던 대외정책의 특징을 규명하고, 이를 바탕으로...

We focused on multilateral cooperation and aid to North Korea. While it is true that North Korea and the international community both respectively have a certain desire for multilateral cooperation, we evaluate that due to the disagreements stemming from differing perspectives, correspondence,...

South Korea has been late to embrace the concept of the Indo-Pacific. Its strategic approach developed from initial neglect to mere tactic acknowledgment and careful engagement under the Moon administration (2017–2022), to the now clear support for a distinct Indo-Pacific strategy under the...

Could North Korea (officially, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) actually become Northeast Asia’s next big free market economy? At first blush, economic optimism about the Hermit Kingdom seems incredibly misplaced. North Korea is one of the most repressive countries in the world;...

This paper examines the possibilities for, and obstacles to, the reunification of North and South Korea based on the experiences of the reunifications of Italy, the United States and Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries. Common elements of these reunifications include a slow convergence of...

This paper empirically examines the relationship between inter-Korean trade and inter-Korean relations over the past three decades. It asks two questions: (1) Does inter-Korean trade contribute to improved interKorean relations and peace on the Korean Peninsula? (2) Does improved inter-Korean...

This paper investigates the economic costs of the recent United Nations sanctions on North Korea. Exploiting a novel data set on North Korean firms, we construct measures of regional exposure to export and intermediate input sanctions and show that trade sanctions cause sharp declines in local...

Since the first provision of international food assistance in the mid-1990s, humanitarian aid to North Korea has been a constant source of scrutiny and debate. It was not only a major contributing factor to ending the devastating famine in the mid-to-late 1990s, but it has continuously helped...

This study examines how the health of North Korean refugees affect the speed of their integration into the South Korean society. Previous studies, mostly of refugees in Europe and North America, have documented that refugees’ poor health delays their integration into host countries. We extend...

The effect of China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on the economic growth of the Korean Peninsula has seldom been examined. Therefore, this paper explores the effect of Chinese FDI on economic growth in the Korean Peninsula from 2003 to 2017. Using an autoregressive distribution lag...

This paper quantitatively analyzes the current status of North Korean consumer payment instruments through a questionnaire survey of 292 North Korean defectors. In the 2010s, it was found that the payment experience ratio of domestic currency cash and grain decreased, while the payment...

Particulate matter (PM) is a major, clinically important air pollutant. A large portion of emitted PM crosses borders, damaging health outside of its originating jurisdiction, but due in part to technical obstacles these pollutant flows remain unregulated. Proposed attribution approaches assume...

This article investigates two accounts of political propaganda in autocratic regimes. One argues that propaganda’s content does not matter substantively and that propaganda is mostly a signal of the regime’s overwhelming power over citizens. A second argues that propaganda is substantively...

What are the characteristics of President Moon Jae-in's policy toward North Korea, and what lessons can be drawn for the future? More than 70 years have passed since the establishment of the two republics in 1948, during which continuous attempts have been made to achieve reconciliation, peace,...

What are the characteristics of President Moon Jae-in's policy toward North Korea, and what lessons can be drawn for the future? More than 70 years have passed since the establishment of the two republics in 1948, during which continuous attempts have been made to achieve reconciliation, peace,...

In the study of the North Korean economy, industrial and business activities still remain uncharted territory. They are the most basic components of an economy, yet the scarcity of information makes those in North Korea almost impossible to understand from the outside world. Today, the general...

This paper investigates the economic costs of the recent United Nations sanctions on North Korea. Exploiting a novel data set on North Korean firms, we construct measures of regional exposure to export and intermediate input sanctions and show that they cause sharp declines in local nighttime...

This research attempts to provide an in-depth analysis of the public perceptions of inter-Korean economic cooperation. KDI survey data with a sample size of 1,000 were subjected to empirical analyses. By means of ordered logit estimations, we derive the following results. First, there is a...

A significant part of economic coercion deployed by the US, EU and the UN targets authoritarian regimes' ruling elites, and aims to promote liberalization by encouraging defections and discouraging repression. We develop a model to study the effects of such measures. The ruler chooses how much...

The Ukrainian crisis and Russia-U.S. conflict can provide important policy implications for South Korea. This is especially true in that the external environments of Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, which are located between great powers, share many similarities. In addition, and more...

The United Nations Security Council adopted eight resolutions from 2012 to 2019, in condemning threatening actions on the part of North Korea, such as conducting ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons tests. I examine the efficacy of sanctions against North Korea using satellite nighttime lights...