Economic Sanctions against North Korea: The Wrong Way to Achieve the Wrong Goal?

Author(s)

Rüdiger Frank

Abstract

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been subject to sanctions nearly continuously since its foundation in 1948. First, it was sanctioned as a part of the Soviet bloc, a situation that was amplified by the Korean War. Later, North Korea suffered from de facto sanctions as a result of its refusal to side with either of the two contenders in the Sino-Soviet struggle for leadership in the socialist camp. Since 1993, and in particular since its first nuclear test in 2006, the country has been sanctioned both by the United Nations and by individual countries such as the United States because of its nuclear weapons program. This essay will focus on events in the last decade and address the following questions: What have been the domestic political and economic impacts of the current sanctions on North Korea? What has the Kim regime done to evade or mitigate their impact? Can sanctions be effective and compelling?

Organisation(s)

Department of East Asian Studies

Journal

Asia Policy: a peer-reviewed journal devoted to bridging the gap between academic research and policymaking on issues related to the Asia-Pacific

Volume

13

Pages

5-12

No. of pages

8

ISSN

1559-0968

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1353/asp.2018.0035

Publication date

07-2018

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

502003 Foreign trade, 502027 Political economy

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

History, Political Science and International Relations

Portal url

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/economic-sanctions-against-north-korea-the-wrong-way-to-achieve-the-wrong-goal(67055738-ccae-480c-ab9e-01ade5797c91).html