Is North Korea Putting All of the Eggs in One Basket?

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to analyze the increasing North Korean dependence on China and provide policy recommendations to deal with it. In the first section, the reality of North Korea behind the rhetoric of "self-reliance" during the cold war is analyzed. In the second section, the rising North Korean overdependence on China is investigated as a new reality between the two countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Overdependence comes at the price of vulnerability, a price that Pyongyang dearly paid when Beijing squeezed its vulnerable points during the nuclear crisis. In the third section, the vulnerability of North Korea is analyzed. After experiencing the tightening grip of China, Pyongyang is having second thoughts about its relationship with China. In the fourth section, North Korean efforts to distance itself from Beijing are investigated. Finally, policy recommendations are discussed in the conclusion of the paper to alleviate the North Korean overdependence on China.