Issue Brief on “The China-North Korea Uneasiness”

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Introduction

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are close neighbours. They largely share a common political philosophy of Communism but they do differ in their economic approaches. Whilst China has gradually moved toward a free market economy after 1978 reforms, North Korea continued to strictly follow the old close door economic policy. The political and economic gap between China and North Korea further widened after the Pyongyang regime opted for nuclear test in 2006. Since then, it became difficult for Beijing to support the launch of missiles and nuclear tests conducted by North Korea. China has adopted a different posture toward North Korea.

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