北韓의 經濟危機와 南北韓 經濟協力의 方向

The economic crisis in North Korea and the direction of economic exchange between South and North Korea

North Korea’s crisis is not originated from the military threaten from outside but came from the economic crisis which is represented by the shortage of food and energy. North Korea has operated her economy based on the centrally planning economic system which already proved theoritically and empirically ineffcient as a economic system. In addition to an inefficient economic system, North Korea has heavily relied upon the so-called “self reliance” economy. Despite of her consistant arguing of self reliance economy, North Korea has depended on the aid and economic exchange with the other countries : East European Communist Bloc and China. But as the Communist bloc collapsed, only Western capitalist countries, especially South Korea can help North Korean economy. To find a direction for the extanding economic exchange between South and North Korea, I specify the “Revealed Comparative Advantage Model”. As comparing the level of economic development in South and North Korea, I find that North Korea has a comparative advantage in natural resource commodity groups and South Korea has in technology intensive commodity groups. Based on the empirical findings, as South and North Korea has great differences in economic development level, the economic exchange between two would be a typical economic exchange between developed and developing countries : the specialization of economy between two Koreas should be vertical rather than horizontal.