KEI Contributor – William Brown

This chapter takes the perspective of North Korea’s leadership as it confronts difficult economic problems in the remaining months of 2018. The major current and potential issues are listed and…

Much is made in Western circles of North Korea’s economic dependence on China amid questions of whether and how much leverage this gives Beijing. In an end game, however, Pyongyang…

North Korea badly needs change but whether that change can and should be induced or forced from the outside is open to question. This paper proceeds from the perspective that…

By William B. Brown Let’s examine the North Korean economic scene in the hot Korean summer of 2018 to see if we can get hints at Kim Jong-un’s thinking on what arguably are the most important decisions the regime is making in decades.  Pundits will argue who is more pressed for time, Kim, South Korean…

By William Brown Can an economy grow by being told to do so? Kim Jong-un is launching his “economy first” messaging, spreading the word inside North Korea that he is sincere in his new emphasis on economic growth and improved living standards. And many Koreans on both sides of the DMZ seem to be buying…

By William Brown South Korea is abuzz with talk of big economic projects in North Korea, like railroads, electric transmission lines, and gas and oil pipelines, a remarkable change just since September when a huge nuclear blast shook the peninsula, forcing everyone to take notice of Kim Jong-un’s growing arsenal. Even some Americans are joining…

By William B. Brown China, and Xi Jinping, might not have been mentioned in the North-South summit talks on Friday, and may have been glossed over in much of the expert analysis of why the meeting was taking place, but one can bet their influence on Kim’s decision to make the trip south was paramount. …