REASONS FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH NORTH KOREA

Loss of allies in the early 1990s, consecutive floods in 1995 and 1996, and a severe drought in 1997 shrunk the North Korean economy. While North Korea had gradually reformed its troubled economic system in the 1990s, these measures were limited and different from market-oriented reform. Inter-Korean relations have improved significantly since the historical encounter of two Korean leaders on June 13, 2000. In July 2002, North Korea introduced liberalization measures, the most significant since the start of communist rule in I 948 (French, 2002). The conventional explanation for this sudden reversal of North Korean economic policy is that it is desperate for external economic assistance and investment. Such an open-door policy creates opportunities and challenges for foreign governments, companies, and individuals. This paper discusses reasons to do business with North Korea, entry modes of North Korean markets, differences in management style between Western and Asian corporations, and political risk analysis.