North Korea: Sanctions, Engagement, and Strategic Reorientation

Noland, Marcus (2018): North Korea: Sanctions, Engagement, and Strategic Reorientation. Published in: Innovation and Economic Growth Series No. No. 14 (October 2018)

Abstract

This paper examines the roles that sanctions, and inducements might play in resolving the North Korea problem. It finds that while the “maximum pressure” narrative is plausible, the evidence to substantiate it is thin. Likewise, the North Korean regime is aware of the potentially constraining (or even destabilizing) political implications of cross-border economic integration and has acted to structure engagement in ways to blunt its transformative impact. Maximizing the transformative possibilities of engagement will require conscious planning by North Korea’s partners. Multilateral guidelines and voluntary codes on corporate conduct could be used to anchor this process, but they will only be effective if there is greater political commitment to such norms than has been witnessed to date. Without such commitments, engagement risks enabling North Korea’s doctrine of the parallel development of weapons of mass destruction and the economy.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: North Korea, sanctions, labor standards, voluntary codes, special economic zones
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F51 - International Conflicts ; Negotiations ; Sanctions; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J47 - Coercive Labor Markets; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J8 - Labor Standards: National and International; P - Economic Systems > P3 - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions > P33 - International Trade, Finance, Investment, Relations, and Aid

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