Stephan Haggard's Recent Research Cited in The Daily NK
Noland and Dong See Little Hope in New SEZs
07/01/2011
Chris Green,
The Daily NK
Marcus Noland, an economist with the Peterson Institute in Washington, D.C. and author of a number of books on the North, does not believe that Pyongyang has any intention of using recently launched Sino-North Korean economic projects as the launching point for wider economic reform, instead believing that Kim Jong Il only sees such projects as a way to earn foreign currency.
Speaking with Samsung Economic Research Institute economist Dr. Dong Young Seung in a debate convened by The Daily NK in Seoul on the afternoon of the 29th, Noland asserted that projects such as those at Hwangeumpyeong near Shinuiju and further north at Rasun appear to be examples of the North Korean regime “promoting trade and investment through entities under their direct political control.”
Dong agreed with Noland on the isolated trade projects, portraying them as of little benefit to wider North Korean society and pointing out, “North Korea's own way of reform is being done at just the four points (Kaesong, Mt. Geumgang, Shinuiju and Rasun). The North Korean regime uses the benefits earned from these four corners to placate the rest of the regions. With these reforms, it blocks reformist waves in other areas of domestic society.”
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