Book contents
- North Korea and the Geopolitics of Development
- North Korea and the Geopolitics of Development
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Introduction: The Development–Geopolitics Nexus in North Korea
- 1 State-Building and Late Development in North Korea
- 2 Post-War Reconstruction and Catch-Up Industrialisation
- 3 Geopolitical Contestation and the Challenge to North Korean Development
- 4 Economic Decline and the Crisis of the 1990s
- 5 Marketisation and the Transformation of the North Korean State
- 6 North Korean Economic Reform in the Shadow of China
- 7 Dependency in Chinese–North Korean Relations?
- 8 International Sanctions and North Korean Development
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Dependency in Chinese–North Korean Relations?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 September 2021
- North Korea and the Geopolitics of Development
- North Korea and the Geopolitics of Development
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Introduction: The Development–Geopolitics Nexus in North Korea
- 1 State-Building and Late Development in North Korea
- 2 Post-War Reconstruction and Catch-Up Industrialisation
- 3 Geopolitical Contestation and the Challenge to North Korean Development
- 4 Economic Decline and the Crisis of the 1990s
- 5 Marketisation and the Transformation of the North Korean State
- 6 North Korean Economic Reform in the Shadow of China
- 7 Dependency in Chinese–North Korean Relations?
- 8 International Sanctions and North Korean Development
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In chapter seven, we examine the more direct material impact of the rise of China on the North Korean economy. This is examined through the lens of the broader debate regarding the impact of China’s rise on developing countries. We argue that while North Korea’s trade relations with China do resemble the resource dependency found in many Global South countries, North Korea has in recent years become increasingly integrated into cross-border regional production networks, with textile manufacturing being outsourced to North Korean producers as well as the growing dispatch of North Korean labour to China as a result of ongoing economic shifts within China itself. Although this relationship can be conceptualised as a form of economic dependency, North Korea’s economic collapse in the 1990s preceded its growing economic relations with China. In this sense, China has played an important facilitative role in North Korea’s economic recovery following the 1990s. However, concerns with the North Korean leadership regarding import dependency on China have in recent years led to a policy emphasis on domestic import substitution, a strategy that has had some success, albeit at relatively low levels of production.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- North Korea and the Geopolitics of Development , pp. 193 - 218Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021