김정은 시대 경제관리 개선조치의 실태와 평가: 2012~2014년

Abstract

The goal of this study is to organize and evaluate the current conditions of economic management improvement measures in North Korea during the Kim Jong-un era by focusing on the early stages of the “Economic Management System in Our Style” policy, first introduced after Kim Jong-un's rise to power. It appears that the “Economic Management System in Our Style” system has still not yet advanced out of the “research” and “experimental” stages. Recently, North Korea has been extremely careful and cautious in moving forward with the “Economic Management System in Our Style” approach, perhaps due to the lessons learned from the 7.1 Measures. From that perspective, a considerable difference in the implementation of economic management improvement during the Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-un eras can be found. With regards to the prolonged research and experimentation, there are two sides from which they can be evaluated. On the one hand, this new economic management method has yet to be enforced in earnest and has been repeatedly postponed, with the “wall of reality” getting in the way of expanding and enacting these economic reform measures. On the other hand, even though it may be at the research and experimental level, the fact that North Korea has been looking for new ways to expand reform measures continuously for over two years can be seen as an exceptional display of the strong will of the leaders of North Korea to achieve this goal. When thinking of the success brought by the “Economic Management System in Our Style” approach, the indirect effect of marketization must also be included. At the present stage, the indirect effect of marketization may actually be larger than the direct effects of the “Economic Management System in Our Style” policy. While it is true that the “Economic Management System in Our Style” policy is amicable towards markets, it is important to focus on the fact that the North Korean government is also simultaneously pushing forward with a appeasement policy toward the market. The North Korean market, therefore, is currently being provided with an extremely amicable environment, which has contributed to the increasing momentum behind marketization. Although this may be seen as a low degree of development, it has the possibility to greatly contribute to maintaining positive growth in the North Korean economy.