북한의 철도현대화 건설과 김정은 정권의 정치경제적 이익

North Korea’s Rail Modernization Construction and the Political and Economic Interests of Kim Jong-un s Regime

This study aims to analyze the political and economic interests of the Kim Jong-un s Regime according to North Korea‘s rail modernization construction. Focusing on the status of North Korean railway modernization and political and economic interests since Kim Jong-un took power in 2012, this study focused on North Korea s national interests and priorities for North Korea s efforts to modernize the North Korean railway after the Panmunjom declaration on the 27th of April. The reason why North Korea has aggressively tried to construct High Speed Railway is not only because of its economic interests but also due to political considerations directly connected to its national security. That is, there exist economic reasons for to build the North Korean railway modernization with these three border counties: to secure oil supplies; to minimize the logistics costs and transport costs, distance, and time via geographical benefits; to revitalize the economy on the border; to promote investment of North Korean companies; and to Receive economic support such as grant loans and economic aid from the countries related to the construction of North Korean railway modernization. 1) In addition to the aforementioned economic aspect of cooperative construction, the political reasons also exist as follows: to maintain Kim Jong Eun s diplomatic achievement and political legitimacy of the North Korean Communist Party; to establish a normal nation; to enhance the national image, to Prevent(set back) of North Korean defectors ; to strengthen the military cooperation and prevent the border disputes; to cope with and prevent the containment policy of the Unite States; and to increase its presence politically and diplomatically by setting a base of overseas expansion up. This paper argues that the modernization of North Korean railways can be a type of expansionist policy of North Korea under the name of High Speed Railway Diplomacy as well as the basis of economic growth.