China, Inc. Meets North Korea, Inc.: Growing Bilateral Commercial Activities and their Policy Implications for the US and South Korea

Dr. John S. Park, Senior Adviser of U.S. Institute of Peace will speak at Harvard University on North Korea.

Bolstering regime stability in North Korea has been an important strategic objective for Beijing in recent years. The primary Chinese means for doing so is expanding commercial activities in the Sino-DPRK border region through various levels of the Communist Party of China and the Workers’ Party of Korea interactions. This reinvigorated party-to-party channel has enabled diverse groups in China to achieve progress in building economic development zones, transportation infrastructure, and port facilities in North Korea. Understanding “Beijing’s Sunshine Policy with Chinese Characteristics” provides new opportunities for Washington and Seoul to assess the historical motivations for and contemporary policy implications of China, Inc.’s engagement of North Korea, Inc.

John S. Park directs Northeast Asia Track 1.5 projects at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), which brings together current and former policymakers and advisers for conflict prevention activities. He is concurrently a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. He joined USIP from Goldman Sachs, where he worked on US military privatization financing projects. Prior to that, he was the project leader of the North Korea Analysis Group at the Harvard Kennedy School. His publications include: “North Korea, Inc.: Gaining Insights into North Korean Regime Stability from Recent Commercial Activities” (USIP Working Paper, May 2009), and “North Korea’s Nuclear Policy Behavior: Deterrence and Leverage,” in The Long Shadow: Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia (2008). He has testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on the evolving roles of “core interests” and “mutual interests” in US-China relations. He received his PhD from Cambridge University and completed his predoctoral and postdoctoral training at the Harvard Kennedy School. His recent research focuses on the policy implications of growing commercial interactions in the Sino-DPRK border region.