Visualizing the invisible hands: the shadow economy in North Korea

Abstract

The outside world is well aware of the totalitarian side of North Korea. Much less well-known is the shadow economy of the country which has enveloped the everyday lives of ordinary North Koreans for the last fifteen years or so. Based on refugee testimonies, this article aims to shed light on this heretofore unexamined aspect of the country, by visualizing the invisible hands of the ever-growing shadow economy in North Korea. In particular, we will investigate who the main actors are (the agency question), how they obtain their items (the supply mechanism), how they move items from one place to another (the distribution mechanism) and who consumes these items (the consumer question) in contemporary North Korean society.     

EU Counterterrorism and the Southern Mediterranean Countries after the Arab Spring: New Potential for Cooperation?

The European Union's (EU) relationship with North African countries has long been the subject of intense academic enquiry. For many years, the EU has performed a difficult balancing act between managing the security concerns of its member states, dealing with authoritarian regimes that have questionable human rights records, creating and maintaining good economic relations, and pursuing more normative objectives. Have security objectives overridden other concerns? While the EU has cooperated with regimes with questionable human rights records, counterterrorism cooperation between the EU and North African countries has not developed as much as previous academic studies believe. However, what are the prospects of this changing with more recent developments after the Arab Spring? This article examines in detail the reasons why the EU does not currently conduct significant counterterrorism cooperation with North African countries and discusses whether this situation is likely to change as a result of the events of the Arab Spring, which has swept through North Africa and the Middle East since 2010.     

Aesthetics and politics in North Korean socialist realist painting: On approved ways of seeing

This paper inquires into aesthetics and politics in North Korean socialist realist painting by way of an examination of North Korean journalist Han Chol Ju's article series “Visit to Korean Art Gallery” and three paintings in Korea Today (2010–2011). The paper explains late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's national-Stalinist conception of Juche socialist realism in On Fine Art (1991); considers one Korean painting (Chos?nhwa), two oil paintings (yuhwa), and one jewel painting (pos?khwa); and addresses approved ways of seeing in political-aesthetic experience and response in the North Korean situation.     

The logic of multiculturalism and Korean democracy

In this article, I attempt to construct a normative framework of Korean multiculturalism in the Confucian public-societal context of Korean democracy by focusing on the political implications of the claim to cultural rights (so-called ‘logic’ of multiculturalism) and cultural pluralism that it is likely to entail for Korean democracy. After examining the logic of multiculturalism that often puts multiculturalism in tension with liberal democracy, I turn to Will Kymlicka's account of immigrant multiculturalism that resolves the potential tension between multiculturalism and liberal democracy in a liberal way. Then, I construct a normative framework of Korean multiculturalism in a way that a decent multicultural society can be established on the same public-cultural ground on which Korean democracy has matured in the past two decades.     

The Possibility of Economic Reform in North Korea

This article argues that North Korea can achieve an economic catch-up after decades of economic isolation and stagnation by promoting an economic opening focused on foreign trade and investment in a sustained manner. An analogy is been made with the case of Fujian Province in China, which has accomplished economic catch-up, mainly due to Taiwanese investments. To realise its potential, it is argued that North Korea treats its foreign direct investment (FDI) from South Korea as intra-Korean investment. The article also discusses the diverse modes of engagement with foreign capital that are available for North Korea, considering its own capability (absorption or management capabilities), rivalry among possible foreign investors, implications for market structure (monopoly or more competition), the nature of target technologies or facilities, opportunity for learning and transfer, and so forth. Finally, the article discusses the economic and political preconditions for such and economic catch-up.     

中国的朝鲜半岛政策评估——历史经验、当前成果与若干不足

中国的朝鲜半岛政策,历经朝贡体系、条约体系、冷战体系和冷战后体系四个主要阶段。从历史经验来看,一是中国的朝鲜半岛政策总体上以友好为主线、以和平为目的;二是中国的强大有助于朝鲜半岛的稳定与发展;三是当中国衰落时,朝鲜半岛往往成为外部入侵的跳板;四是制度化的安排有助于中国与朝鲜半岛国家关系的稳定发展;五是适时调整外交政策才能够不断获得滚动收益。当前中国对朝鲜半岛政策的主要成果,一是"北南并重"造就了中国在朝鲜半岛的独特政治地位;二是六方会谈成为解决朝核问题的重要机制;三是中国与朝鲜半岛国家经济合作取得显著成果,合作前景广阔;四是睦邻友好关系形成了良好的民间基础。不足之处,一是"等距离"外交带来了实质性差距;二是原则性政策突出,操作性策略不足;三是在朝鲜半岛事务沟通斡旋当中的桥梁作用有待进一步加强;四是中朝韩三边关系缺少战略性的统筹规划。     

中国朝鲜族H19基因上游差异甲基化区SNP分布

目的调查中国朝鲜族群体中H19基因上游差异甲基化区(differentially methylated region,DMR)SNP及单倍型分布,为法医学应用及群体遗传学研究提供基础数据。方法收集中国朝鲜族101份无关个体血样和14份来自5个亲缘关系已知的两代家系血样,用PCR-循环测序、McrBC消化DNA后PCR方法检测H19基因上游DMR的SNP,并用亲源印记等位基因(parentally imprinted allele,PIA)分型法进行单倍型检测,再计算相关遗传学参数。结果在H19基因上游DMR 1174bp的目的基因扩增产物中,共检出13个SNP(rs10840167、rs2525883、rs12417375、rs4930101、rs2525882、rs2735970、rs2735971、rs11042170、rs2735972、rs10732516、rs2071094、rs2107425、rs4930098)和5种单倍型,有9个SNP属于高鉴别能力的遗传标记,其单倍型具有较高的个人识别率,单倍型平均基因多样性(GD)为0.714。应用McrBC酶消化基因组DNA的PIA分型法确定了家系子代样本的母源单倍型。结论 H19基因上游DMR在中国朝鲜族群体中具有很高的遗传多态性,母源单倍型的确定进一步提高了印记基因的法医学鉴定效能。     

A Changing Mediterranean: Regional Organisations and North Africa during the Arab Spring

This article discusses the role played by the European Union, African Union and Arab League in the recent revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. It focuses in particular on the use and impact of political and economic conditionality, the decision-making processes within each organisation and the inter-regional forums created to deal with the crisis. The analysis acknowledges the increasingly active and vocal role played by regional organisations in the so-called ‘Arab spring’, but it highlights not just that they had few legal powers to intervene in these crises, but also that they seemed very reluctant to use any form of political or economic conditionality. It also reveals that the main purpose of inter-regional forums was arguably not to generate consensus internationally but rather to manage dissent. As such, the article encourages a reflection on the specific challenges and opportunities that North Africa and the Mediterranean region pose to regional conflict management.     

Smuggling wildlife in the Americas: scale,methods, and links to other organised crimes

International wildlife trafficking has garnered increased attention in recent years with a focus on the illicit trade in ivory, rhinos, and other animals from Africa and Asia. Less is known about trafficking in the Americas. By conducting a systematic review of academic literature, popular accounts, and government reports, this case study attempts to identify the scope and methods of wildlife trafficking in the Americas and its connections to organised crime. Unlike arms or drug smuggling, individual operators with minimal connections to other criminal activities dominate the trade. Most perpetrators work independently and have expertise and interests in legitimate businesses involving animal products. Methods of concealment are frequently rudimentary and little appears to be known about primary trafficking routes. Overall, wildlife smuggling in the Western Hemisphere appears to be a small-scale activity, small in its aggregate amounts, and strongly linked to legitimate businesses operating in a low risk and technologically narrow environment.