Informal Markets and Peacebuilding in North Korea

For many, North Korea conjures up images of clandestine nuclear weapons development and recent provocations against South Korea. Remarkable transformations that have been taking place at the local level inside the reclusive country have been overlooked. The increasing role of North Korea’s expanding informal markets remains largely under examined.

Initially a response to the Great Famine of the late 1990s and the collapse of the Public Distribution System, informal markets have evolved to constitute important survival strategies and coping mechanisms for North Korean citizens. Functioning close to the Sino-DPRK border, these informal markets benefit a growing number of North Koreans from diverse socioeconomic groups, ranging from farmers to factory workers to government officials. What accounts for the sustainable growth of these informal markets? What are the market trends going forward? And on a macro level, how might these informal markets contribute to future peacebuilding in North Korea and along the Sino-DPRK border region? 

On July 19 USIP held a full day conference that explored transformations inside North Korea that have significant implications for the regime and the U.S.’s North Korea policy. A group of Seoul-based North Korean defectors spoke at the conference and shared their unique experiences in and insights about the informal markets.The conference also:

• Explored how informal markets have been expanding in North Korea and what role women play in these markets
• Examined the impact of remittances on the local political economy in key North Korean regions
• Evaluated the role of technology in expanding the scale and scope of activity in the informal markets
• Assessed lessons learned from other border regions in building local economies

Agenda

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM | Registration & Coffee

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM | Opening Session

• Amb. William B. Taylor, Welcoming Remarks
  Senior Vice President, Center for Conflict Management, USIP
• Dr. John Park, Opening Remarks
  Senior Program Officer-Northeast Asia, USIP
• Dr. Stephen Linton, Keynote Speaker
  Chairman, Eugene Bell Foundation

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9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Panel 1: The Role of Women in the Growth of DPRK Informal Markets

• Dr. Kathleen Kuehnast , Moderator
  Director, Gender and Peacebuilding Center, USIP
• Dr. Hyeong-Jung Park
  Senior Research Fellow, Korea Institute for National Unification
• Mr. In-Ho Park
  President, DailyNK
• Mr. Lex Rieffel
  Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

10:30 AM - 11:15 AM | Group Discussion

11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Lunch Break (lunch will be provided to participants)

12:15 PM - 1:15 PM | Panel 2: The Impact of Remittances on Local Political Economy

• Dr. Raymond Gilpin, Moderator

  Director, Sustainable Economies, USIP

• Mr. In-Ho Park
  President, DailyNK

• Dr. Sonia Plaza
  Senior Economist, Migration and Remittances Unit, World Bank

1:15 PM - 1:45 PM | Group Discussion

1:45 PM - 2:45 PM | Panel 3: The Role of Mobile Phones in Expanding Informal Markets

• Dr. Sheldon Himelfarb, Moderator
  Director, Center of Innovation: Science, Technology & Peacebuilding, USIP
• Mr. Seok-Young Lee
  Defector Reporter, DailyNK
• Ms. Krista Jones Baptista
  ICT Services Manager, DAI

2:45 PM - 3:00 PM | Group Discussion

3:00 PM - 3:15 PM | Wrap-Up Session

Explore Further:

• Countries and Regions: Korean Peninsula
• Korea Working Group
• Gender and Peacebuilding Center
• Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding Center
• Center for Sustainable Economies

Related Academy Courses

• Conflict Prevention in Latin America
• Land, Property, and Conflict
• Stabilization and Peacebuilding: Understanding Dynamic Processes and Making Them Work