Key Takeaways

• There are 24 countries that have embassies in North Korea. In 2021, the majority of these embassies went vacant with foreign diplomats leaving the country and closed borders due to COVID-19. Nations with embassies in the DPRK include Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Nigeria.
• Worldwide, 46 countries host North Korean embassies. Countries included in this grouping are Mexico, Senegal, Iran, India, and Mongolia. Additionally, North Korea has consulates in China, Russia, Pakistan, and Hong Kong. The country also has a trade office in Zimbabwe and a representative office in Belarus.
•  The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948. In 2014, Russia wrote off 90% of North Korea's unpaid $11 billion Cold War debt.

Introduction

Overview of North Korea's International Relations

• A total of 160 countries have established diplomatic relations with North Korea. Some of them include Canada, Australia, Madagascar, Brazil, and Montenegro. North Korea chose to sever diplomatic ties with Malaysia in 2021 after the country approved the extradition of a businessman wanted for money laundering charges that violated United Nation sanctions.

 

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• There are 24 countries that have embassies in North Korea. In 2021, the majority of these embassies went vacant with foreign diplomats leaving the country and closed borders due to COVID-19. Nations with embassies in the DPRK include Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Nigeria.

 

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• Worldwide, 46 countries host North Korean embassies. Countries included in this grouping are Mexico, Senegal, Iran, India, and Mongolia. Additionally, North Korea has consulates in China, Russia, Pakistan, and Hong Kong. The country also has a trade office in Zimbabwe and a representative office in Belarus.

 

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• North Korea belongs to numerous international organizations. It belongs to 22 different organizations under the United Nations bodies, including the United Nations and the Food and Agricultural Organization. It is involved in 30 Multilateral Inter-Government Organizations which includes the World Federation of Trade Unions. The country is also a member of nine different regional organizations. Together, this puts North Korea in membership with 61 international organizations.

Overview of Relationship with Russia

•  The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948. In 2014, Russia wrote off 90% of North Korea's unpaid $11 billion Cold War debt.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, relations between the two countries were uneventful. Pyongyang has recently declared victory over the coronavirus and has announced that it had planned to resume cargo rail traffic with Russia in September 2022.
• Since the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, North Korea has sided with Russia being one of five countries that voted against the United Nations General Assembly's demands to have Russia withdraw from Ukraine. The other countries that voted against the resolution were Russia, Eritrea, Syria, and Belarus.
• North Korea has publicly acknowledged both the People's Republic of Luhansk and the People's Republic of Donetsk (located in Eastern Ukraine) as independent states. This action resulted in Kyiv severing its diplomatic ties with the DPRK.
• North Korea describes its relationship with Russia as a "tactical and strategic collaboration."

Overview of Relationship with China

• Diplomatic relations between North Korea and The People's Republic of China were established in 1949. The relationship between the two countries has been described as "as close as lips and teeth," or one of mutual distrust.
• China supports North Korea economically, with more than 90% of North Korea's total trade volume coming from China.

 

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• The first trip outside of the country for leader Kim Jung Un was a rail journey to China in 2018. Several additional visits by Mr. Kim to China have since ensued. It was stated about these visits: "[Mr] Kim is eager to remind the Trump administration that he does have diplomatic and economic options besides what Washington and Seoul can offer."

 

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• With the United States providing increased support to Japan and South Korea, China and North Korea have strengthened diplomacy between themselves. A professor of Korean Studies said about the situation: "The major game changer is the confrontation with the United States. It means that the strategic value of North Korea from the Chinese point of view has increased dramatically. For North Korea, the Sino-U.S. rivalry is a kind of gift sent by the heavens. It gives them essentially unconditional Chinese support — something in the past they couldn’t even dream about."

Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

• "In the online survey of 72,524 elementary, middle, and high school students conducted by the education ministry and the unification ministry between November and December 2021, 61.2% of the respondents revealed that unification was necessary," as reported by Korea Herald. The most cited reasons for unification among this group of respondents are the reduction of the threat of war (27.2%), the same ethnic race (25.5%), and the resolution of the separated family problem (20.9%).
• Reports show that the chances of resuming or continuing talks with North Korea, as desired and designed by Moon's administration, were apparently diminished upon Yoon's election as the president. President Yoon is a known proponent of a hardline stance on North Korea and nurses a more hawkish approach, such as wanting preconditions to any dialogue.
• North Korea's nuclear capabilities and threats are said to have contributed to this development; thus, "President Yoon’s policy on North Korea will likely be dependent on North Korea’s military actions and the public's general perception."
• In 2021, a survey conducted in South Korea revealed that the majority of South Koreans (about 60.6%) said only selected North Korean defectors should be accepted into South Korea by the South Korean government. "Only about 24.7% said that all North Korean defectors should be accepted.

Introduction

Analysis of South Korea's Sentiment About North Korea

Public Support/Opposition for Unification

• "In the online survey of 72,524 elementary, middle, and high school students conducted by the education ministry and the unification ministry between November and December 2021, 61.2% of the respondents revealed that unification was necessary," as reported by Korea Herald.
• The most cited reasons for unification among this group are the reduction of the threat of war (27.2%), the same ethnic race (25.5%), and the resolution of the separated family problem (20.9%).
• Of the survey respondents, one out of four, or 25% said unification was not needed, with the share of those against unification increasing for the third consecutive year from 19.4% in 2019 and 24.2% in 2020.
• The most cited reasons for those against unification are the economic burden (29.8%), potential social problems after unification (25%), and political differences between the South and the North (17%).
• Another survey conducted by the Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies between July and August 2021, on 1,200 South Koreans between the ages of 20 and 74, revealed similar sentiments and trends among South Koreans. It showed that about 44% of respondents said reunification was somewhat necessary. "The figure represents the lowest number of people who believe reunification is necessary since the poll’s inception in 2007."
• Contrastingly, the number of those against reunification has steadily increased from 16% to 29% year-over-year. This cohort further highlighted economic burdens as the most cited reason (32%) against reunification, as "Seoul is expected to absorb much of the costs associated with reunification."

The Stance of the Government and Political Parties on North Korea

• The South Korean constitution is known to aim toward achieving reunification with North Korea peacefully and in that light, several progressive South Korean presidents made concerted efforts toward reunification.
• According to The Diplomat, "Former President Kim Dae-jung became the first Korean Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his contribution toward easing hostilities in the Korean peninsula by staging the first inter-Korean summit in 2000."
• Kim Dae-jung's successor, Roh Moo-hyun, continued this path by advancing the Sunshine Policy, which aimed at reducing tensions in the peninsula through interaction and humanitarian and economic assistance. Even in the face of provocation, two conservative successors, including Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, remained tolerant to keep economic and national ties alive.
• "Following a decade of conservative rule, Former President Moon Jae-in from the ruling Democratic Party made history by organizing three inter-Korean summits in 2018." Furthermore, in 2021, he repeatedly echoed the need for ending the conflict that divides the two nations — "a call to which senior North Korean official Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, responded as a 'good idea.'"
• "In May 2021, South Korea’s infrastructure ministry invited bids for possible infrastructure projects in the North, including those concerning the mining sector. It reportedly sees such resources as potentially covering the cost of repairing the North’s decrepit infrastructure, should reunification occur," as per National Interest.
• Contrastingly, the chairman of the leading opposition People Power Party (PPP), Lee Jun-seok, opposed any chance of reunification and instead, suggested an outright takeover of the North.
• In January 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol, the then-presidential candidate from the PPP and South Korea's new President, before he took office, labeled North Korea as 'the nemesis' and even went ahead to propose preemptive strikes.
• With this, reports show that the chances of resuming or continuing talks with North Korea, as desired and designed by Moon's administration, were apparently diminished upon Yoon's election as the president. President Yoon is a known proponent of a hardline stance on North Korea and nurses a more hawkish approach, such as wanting preconditions to any dialogue.
• North Korea's nuclear capabilities and threats are said to have contributed to this development; thus, "President Yoon’s policy on North Korea will likely be dependent on North Korea’s military actions and the public's perception."

South Koreans’ Sentiment About Defectors From North Korea

• In 2021, a survey conducted in South Korea revealed that the majority of South Koreans (about 60.6%) said only selected North Korean defectors should be accepted into South Korea by the South Korean government. "Only about 24.7% said that all North Korean defectors should be accepted. Below is a chart of the survey results from 2007 to 2021."

 

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• The trend, as shown above, shows that more South Koreans are becoming increasingly reluctant to accept North Korean defectors, as the share of the Southerners who either do not want to accept any Northern defectors or would prefer only select defectors has generally increased from 2007 to 2021, while those who prefer to accept every defector have declined in the same period.
• The latest survey conducted by the Korea Institute for National Unification on 8,000 South Koreans last fall revealed that the negative sentiment South Koreans hold about North Korean defectors has doubled since 2016, from 12.1% to 25.1%.
• To corroborate this sentiment, "the KIPA survey also found 13% of South Koreans — more than double the rate recorded in 2017, said they cannot accept foreign immigrants and laborers." This sentiment among South Koreans about North Korean defectors is often baseless, according to Lee Sang-shin, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

Research Strategy