Prospects for North Korea's External Opening Policy and North-South Korean Economic Relations (Written in Korean)

Abstract

The promotion of economic exchange and cooperation between North and South Korea is significant in two ways. First, the pursuit of economic interest can lead gradually to the unification of the national economies. Second, economic relations can serve as the first stride toward political reunification. There are, however, many difficulties in conceiving a strategy for economic cooperation between North and South Korea because of their differences in ideology and socioeconomic system. Under these circumstances, a bid by either the North or the South to consider its specific ideology or socio-economic system absolute and to impose them on the other side would inevitably lead to confrontation and collision and deepen the division of the country. Therefore, steps to expand and develop economic and technological cooperation and comprehensive exchanges between the North and the South, with due regard to the development of bilateral relations, are in full accord with the interests of the both sides. It is clear that North Korea's changing attitude toward its environmental conditions is neither a policy of opening nor an ideological shift toward pragmatism, as has occurred in the Eastern European countries. Instead, it is a temporary tactic for breaking out of the economic stagnation caused by its rigid economic structure. In this light, we must