Publication

This paper examines the widely held thesis that China’s expanded economic engagement with North Korea is or was, wholly or partly, intended to bring Pyongyang back to the Six-Party Talks with the ultimate goal of achieving North Korea’s denuclearization. It explores the scope and the strategic rationale of the engagement between the two countries and concludes that China’s promotion of economic reform in North Korea is indeed part of a long-term re-engagement process that aims to change the way in which North Korea perceives nuclear weapons.