Buying into the Hermit Kingdom: Practices and Implications for Foreign Investment into the DPRK

With North Korea increasingly becoming politically isolated, there are few channels through which the international community can remain engaged. Despite the distaste most have for Pyongyang politics, over twenty-four million people living under Kim Jong Il need assistance from the outside world, while the international community continues to hope to open up the DPRK. If engagement cannot happen through government assistance, trade, or NGO contributions, then how do we remain engaged with North Korea? Foreign investment.

This is KEI’s latest Academic Paper, Dr. Kevin Shepard looks at tangible economic improvements that can be attributed to foreign investment in North Korea. He explores a range of investment opportunities and their effect on North Korea. Dr. Shepard’s paper examines concrete steps that can be developed to ensure opportunities to engage the North are not squandered and that can effectively contribute to political engagement. A question and answer followed his presentation.