Do the Chinese expect North Korea to implement economic reforms?
A4: Most Chinese experts and officials are disappointed that North Korea has not moved more rapidly to implement economic reform. They had hoped that following Kim Jong-il’s January 2006 visit to southern China he would accelerate the pace of reform, but their hopes were unfulfilled. Nevertheless, Chinese analysts are encouraged that North Korea has haltingly adopted some agricultural and market reforms and allowed greater autonomy to individual factories and enterprises. The Chinese anticipate that reforms will continue as long as they do not threaten central government control, albeit at a slow pace. Chinese experts maintain that the major obstacle to North Korea’s adoption of an economic reform policy is its adverse external environment, the most important element of which is a continued hostile relationship with the United States. For more information on this topic, please download the report Keeping an Eye on an Unruly Neighbor.
