North Korea and the Geopolitics of Development

The timing of a country’s development has considerable impact on the subsequent nature of economic growth and institutional structure. In East Asia, geopolitical moments such as colonialism, the Cold War, and rise of China also shaped economic systems and periods of growth (and decline) of late developing countries—North Korea is no exception.

In his latest book, North Korea and the Geopolitics of Development, former Wilson Center fellow and Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex Kevin Gray contextualizes the nexus of development and geopolitics in North Korean history. On the panel he is joined by Rachel Minyoung Lee, Senior Fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center, and Andrew Yeo, Senior Fellow and SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies at the Brookings Institution, to discuss the history of the North Korean economic and geopolitical implications for today.