North Korea’s Trade and the Integration of Northeast Asia

In addition to being one of the most isolated countries in the world, North Korea has been the target of sanctions and trade restrictions in recent years. This paper examines the trade patterns of North Korea with its 19 major trading partners over the period 1989–2016. Moreover, the paper quantifies the trade barriers between North Korea and the rest of the world by estimating border effects in a gravity model framework. The findings indicate that North Korea’s trade with developed countries has been declining for almost two decades, while trade with emerging economies has been intensifying. Over the last decade, trade with almost all countries has collapsed with the exception of China. The regression results imply that despite being the second largest trading partner, South Korea faces the highest trade barriers with North Korea, after controlling for distance, contiguity, and economic size. Emerging economies recorded the lowest trade hurdles, while developed countries witnessed a dramatic rise in border effects since the early 2000s. China’s trade costs vis-à-vis North Korea are higher than for the rest of the world but remained relatively stable over the past two decades