Border study constitutes the core of border politics, assuming an important role in defining the nature and details of the bilateral relations. North Korea and China share a 1,334km-long border. This has a significant meaning to North Korea’s foreign relations, with the southward channel de facto disconnected due to the inter-Korean division.

Conventionally, border politics have mainly touched on topics of division, confrontation, and disputes such as territorial and immigration issues. However, along with the conventional topics, the border politics now focuses even on the role and meaning of national borders as a point of confluence and exchanges of different lifestyle, culture, and institutions. That is, the border studies nowadays do not stop at scrutinizing the phenomenon of ‘division,’ but extend to the function and role of national boundaries as a bridge of state-to-state cooperation. This enables the researcher to properly comprehend the influence and function of the national boundary on the bilateral relationship. In this context, this book attempts to balance the two different nature of national boundaries between North Korea and China – a border that epitomizes disconnection and division, and a border as a bridge of cooperation and assimilation.

The study on DPRK-China border remains at a rudimentary level, evidenced by the fact that the details of the border treaty has been elucidated only recently. Especially, a systematic research on the DRPK-China border is absent; the existing studies only take a partial look on the functions and roles of the border as a bridge transporting human and material resources. Taking these into account, the author has written this text as an introductory material that includes a comprehensive account on the study of DPRK-China border from its history to the present.

Volume No.: 2017-7

Publisher: The Sejong Institute

Publication Date: June 28, 2017

Paperback: 225 Pages