Photo Essays

China’s Growing North Korean Presence

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Photo Essays

China’s Growing North Korean Presence

A look at the impact of rising Chinese investment in the impoverished country.

Airport Terminal
Airport Terminal

The impact of Chinese investment is immediately apparent upon arriving at Pyongyang airport. The old Soviet-era infrastructure is in the process of being taken down. In its place is a new terminal. Although far smaller than the old one, cranes nearby suggest that further development is underway. The road connecting the airport to the city is, like most in the country, in appalling condition. The best road we travelled down was a new one connecting China to Rason, paid for by the Chinese.

Despite much speculation this year that Beijing has been toughening its policies on North Korea, China has in fact been developing nascent economic ties with its impoverished neighbor – a case of the region’s largest and most dynamic economy investing in the most backward.

On an academic exchange in September, Flinders University PhD candidate Robert Potter saw first hand some of the evidence of joint development, and was part of the only academic exchange group to be permitted to visit a trade show at the special economic zone in Rason, about 50 km inside North Korea’s border with China.