Iliana Ragnone
Research Associate, Stimson Center and Producer, 38 North
Articles By This Author
North Korea's Animal Protein Farming: Expansion Status and Challenges
While North Korean diets have historically been plant-heavy, there have been efforts to increase the availability of protein sources, especially since 2005. Despite these efforts, structural and practical limitations prevent major protein farming expansion, including the competition for food stocks, resources and land allocations, much less the ability to acquire seed animals and raise them.
Kaesong Industrial Complex: A Tortured History and Uncertain Future
The Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), a joint venture between North Korea and South Korea that hosted South Korean manufacturers inside North Korea and employed North Korea labor, shut down in 2016 amid deteriorating relations. Recent commercial imagery analysis shows a moderate uptick in activity—especially since 2023.
North Korea's Hwangju-Kindung Waterway Project
The Hwangju-Kindung Waterway was officially declared operational in December 2023. This new gravity-fed waterway system aims to provide a constant, uninterrupted water supply to the Hwangju-Kindung Plain for crop irrigation. It will reduce the region's dependence on electrical pump stations that require constant electricity supply.
North Korea's Tourism Industry: A Grand Initiative in Limbo
North Korea's tourism industry took a major hit in 2020 when the pandemic forced the country to close its borders. Once high-profile construction projects, such as the Wonsan-Kalma Beach Resort, were effectively halted as priorities shifted toward domestically oriented projects. Despite a slow reopening to trade in 2022, activity at the North's key tourist sites remains largely unchanged.
Mt. Kumgang Tourist Area: A Slow Shedding of South Korean Influence
The Mt. Kumgang Tourist Region was a popular South Korean tourist destination until a security incident led to its closure in 2008. Despite optimism after the 2018 Panmunjom Summit that long-stalled inter-Korean economic projects would resume, no progress was made before the summit process fell apart. In late 2019, Kim Jong Un visited Mt. Kumgang, denouncing South Korean claims on the resort and instructing it be rebuilt according to North Korean standards and tastes.
North Korea's Komdok Mining Region: Empty Promises?
In 2020, Typhoon Maysak ravaged North Korea's northeast provinces, devastating large portions of the mineral-rich mining region of Komdok. In the storm's wake, Kim Jong Un directed a plan to rebuild Komdok and transform it into a “model” mining community. Nearly two years later, the flood-damaged road and railway networks have been restored, and over 2,000 new housing units have been constructed.