While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America

by Yeonmi Park

estimates from the last decade show North Korea to be little more than a Chinese colony. Chinese aid in 2014 was about $4 billion (North Korea’s entire GDP was about $28 billion in 2016), China seems to account for approximately 95 percent of all North Korea’s imports, and China receives about two-thirds of North Korea’s exports. Without China, in other words, the North Korean regime literally would not exist. In exchange for its support of the Kim family, China receives only small amounts of ores and mineral fuels. So what’s in it for Beijing? The fact is, the existence of North Korea is good for China. It serves as a geographic buffer between China and the U.S. military forces stationed in South Korea, and North Korea’s nuclear weapons function as a reliable military deterrent to greater U.S., Korean, Japanese, and Australian action in the region.