Energy Cooperation With North Korea: Conditions Making Renewable Energy Appropriate

• Author: Heejin Han
• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1070496520964524
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Energy Cooperation

With North Korea:

Conditions Making

Renewable Energy

Appropriate

Heejin Han

1

Abstract

North Korea remains one of the countries whose energy conditions should be

drastically improved not just for its own people but also for the international com-

munity to achieve multiple energy-related goals under the United Nations

Sustainable Development Goals. To generate future energy cooperation ideas, this

study examines previously proposed or implemented programs between North

Korea and international entities, recognizing that they have largely neglected to

incorporate the evolving local energy landscape and priorities of North Korea.

This study thus pays particular attention to the development and diffusion of renew-

able energy under the Kim Jong-un administration, from which it draws a policy-

oriented suggestion that the renewable energy field could offer a path to future

international energy cooperation with North Korea.

Keywords

North Korea, energy, energy cooperation, appropriate technology, renewable energy

1

Division of Global & Interdisciplinary Studies, Pukyong National University, Busan, South Korea

Corresponding Author:

Heejin Han, Division of Global & Interdisciplinary Studies, Pukyong National University, Namgu Yongsoro

45, Ungbi #1319, Busan 48513, South Korea.

Email: polhan@pknu.ac.kr

Journal of Environment &

Development

2020, Vol. 29(4) 449–468

!The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/1070496520964524

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Energy constitutes an integral part of national and global efforts to resolve

major development challenges and achieve sustainable development (Vera &

Langlois, 2007). The seventh goal in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 lists several energy-related objec-

tives: ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy serv-

ices; increasing the share of renewable energy; and improving energy eff‌iciency.

Overall, there has been much progress along these dimensions, with some excep-

tions, such as the sub-Saharan African and South Asia regions (International

Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, 2019). Advanced

economies, such as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

members, and international organizations including development banks have

been supporting developing regions in trying to close the gaps between the

SDGs and their energy realities through international development assistance

and cooperation (Bertheau & Ferrini 2017; Harnesk & Brogaard, 2017;

Marquardt et al., 2016; Quitzow et al., 2019; Zhao et al., 2011).

This study examines North Korea’s evolving energy development issues that

have received little academic or policy attention. The security-related high pol-

itics concerns regarding the country’s nuclear and missile programs as well as

the predominantly negative images associated with the country due to its dicta-

torial political system and diplomatic brinksmanship (Poushter, 2017) explains

such a gap.

North Korea, however, remains one of the countries whose energy conditions

are to be drastically improved for the international community to achieve the

energy-related goals under the UN SDGs. The energy situation in the country

has continued to deteriorate since the end of World War II. The Juche (self-

reliance) ideology that North Korea has pursued since the end of the Korean

War (1950–1953) has intensif‌ied its international isolation and stalled economic

development. The ideology has also affected the country’s energy policy; while

relying on the Soviet bloc for key energy infrastructure and fuel supplies, North

Korea has pursued energy policies where coal and hydroelectric power, which it

has in abundance, constitute the main elements.

However, the dissolution of the communist bloc after the fall of the Soviet

Union meant the suspension of economic aid, technical assistance, and energy

import critical for the country’s survival and development (Bae, 2010; Von

Hippel & Hayes, 2014). Moreover, natural disasters, such as massive f‌loods,

have aggravated the energy production and supply since the 1990s, damaging

coal mines and dams and destroying transmission grids in North Korea (Bae,

2010). Coal production declined by an average of 0.4% per year from 2001 to

2017 (Gwak, 2018). With a shrinking economy under the self-inf‌licted isolation,

North Korea has failed to maintain its energy-producing and transmitting infra-

structure. A study (Bae, 2010, p. 80) found that the transmission and distribu-

tion loss in North Korea ranges between 18% and 30%.

450 Journal of Environment & Development 29(4)