A Nation Sold for Scrap

China has purchased the exclusive rights to the North Korean port of Rajin. The Chosun Ilbo seems to think this could be a boon to trade; I’m skeptical. First, North Korea will always insist on isolating most of its population from outsiders and the things they want to sell. Second, North Korea is corrupt and lacks any reasonable semblance of a court system. Third, North Korea has little infrastructure beyond the port itself. Its rails, roads, mines, and factories are barely functioning. Finally, North Korea has almost nothing to trade. What does North Korea sell that can fill a freighter? A decent-sized shipment of meth or supernotes could fit nicely into a squid boat.

Update: Some very well-informed friends with contacts inside North Korea are not so prosaic about this. They think they Chinese have now grabbed an important part of the regional chessboard that blocks off Russian access to a warm-water port and gives China a much greater degree of control over North Korea’s disintegrating economic components. More later.