Librería Samer Atenea
Kálamo Books
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
What key words are coming up in mind if you think of North Korea? These may be missiles, nuclear weapons and the Kim family passing power along the lineage. What else? Human rights, defectors, economic sanctions, poverty, military parade and a scene of Trump’s shaking hands with Kim Jong Un may be the next. North Korea’s overall image is reclusive and bellicose; however, only a small number of outsiders might know that North Korea has its own economic open door policy by Kim Il Sung since 1984. China adopted the Open Door Policy in 1978, the Soviet Union launched perestroika in 1985 and Vietnam began to transform itself to the socialistic-oriented market economy under Doi Moi from 1986. In this stream, North Korea slightly opened door; however, unlike its neighbors, it was not to transform its economy and this trial spontaneously faded out around the time of the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989. The second round of the open door policy was launched in 1991 with a wider span in the midst of the dissolution of the Soviet bloc.Is North Korea attractive enough for foreigners to invest money and operate businesses? North Korea has opened three special economic zones. Two of them had been heavily relied on South Korean businesses and tourists but shut down after several years’ operation due to political conflicts between Koreas. As of now, only an SEZ called the Rason ETZ is under operation but it has never been an economically bustling place. North Korea still has a plan to open a number of SEZs and economic development zones sometime in the future. In the meantime, North Korea has firmly held the Juche Idea. People may have a question if North Korea has a robust and reasonable mechanism to facilitate the business of foreign investors. In order to bolster the open door policy, North Korea has enacted dozens of laws and made scores of implementing regulations. At the beginning stage, these laws and regulations had a lot of flaws because this country has never experienced market-oriented activities. Since then North Korea has made constant efforts to address flaws and contradictions in laws and regulations but without restructuring the mechanism of socialistic economy. In relation to the business environment, issues in foreign exchange, banking system, transfer of technology, labor, tax, customs, immigration, land tenure, expropriation and political risk insurance are analyzed and discussed. What about dispute settlement mechanism in North Korea? These questions are naturally raised by foreign investors and trade counterparts. North Korea has judicial and alternative dispute settlement system but question is about fairness and due process. In fact, the same question has been raised in China and other economies in transition since their socialistic judicial mechanism and legal concept differ from the other world. This book reviews all these questions and suggests solutions. Implementation of North Korea’s open door policy has functional relations with international politics. The United States, starting at the breakout of the Korean War until now, and the United Nations Security Council in recent years have imposed heavy economic sanctions on North Korea. Because of these, North Korea ascribes to the United States the stagnation of its economy. It may be true at least in part but it is not all the cause of North Korea’s economic woes. Rather, the key for solution resides inside the nation. This book suggests takeaway points North Korea has to bear in mind for further journey.
