September 26, 2023
Analysis

North Korea’s crusade for more special economic zones

30-years of dabbling with SEZs has produced little change

North Korea has recently announced the opening of no less than 14 new Special Economic Zones (SEZs), in addition to the existing four (plus two Special Administrative Regions). While the development of the SEZs project in the DPRK already seemed rather chaotic, Pyongyang’s economic opening-up strategy is now more blurred than ever. More than 20 years after the opening of the Rason SEZ, are North Korea’s Special Economic Zones still going nowhere?

[caption id="attachment_118693" align="aligncenter" width="690"]SEZlocaitons New SEZ Locations | Picture: Google Earth[/caption]