A core component of the North Korean economy has always been foreign income. While this might seem counterintuitive to a state that prides itself on its Juche – or “self-reliance” – policies, the external world defines a great deal of life within North Korea.

In fact, the survival of the regime could be described as a series of pivots between external sponsors. In the early 1940s the regime was dependent upon the assistance of Stalin’s Soviet Union, but during the heat of the Korean War and after the fall of Pyongyang, the North pivoted to Mao’s China. By the