Mercury Holds 'North Korea Development Cooperation' Conference with Korea Institute for National Unification

Exploring Strategies for Development Cooperation with North Korea

On the afternoon of the 27th, Kang Woo-cheol, a senior researcher at the Export-Import Bank of Korea, participated in a discussion at an online conference hosted by the Export-Import Bank and the Korea Institute for National Unification on the theme of "International Community Cooperation Measures and the Role of Funds for North Korea Development Cooperation."

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] The Export-Import Bank of Korea announced on the 29th that it held an online conference on the afternoon of the 27th in collaboration with the Korea Institute for National Unification to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, under the theme "International Community Cooperation Measures for North Korean Development Cooperation and the Role of the Fund."

The conference examined the current state of the North Korean economy following sanctions and COVID-19, and discussed multilateral cooperation measures for North Korean development from the perspectives of technical cooperation and financing.

The conference was conducted in two sessions. In the first session, chaired by Soo-hyung Lee, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, Eun-yi Jeong, Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, explored "The Direction of Humanitarian Support by the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund through a Multifaceted Review of the Recent North Korean Food Crisis." Jong-gyu Lee, Senior Research Fellow at KDI, analyzed "Changes in North Korea’s Economic Policy in Response to the Deterioration of Foreign Trade" based on empirical data.

In the second session, chaired by Moon-soo Yang, Vice President of the University of North Korean Studies, Chang-yong Choi, Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, KDI, presented "Cooperation Measures to Effectively Apply Past Technical Cooperation Experiences from Regime Transition Countries to North Korea," and Yul Kwon, Director of the International Development Cooperation Center at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, delivered a presentation on "Stepwise Multilateral Cooperation Tasks for Future North Korean Development and the Role of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund."

The subsequent panel discussion included Woo-chul Kang, Senior Researcher at the Export-Import Bank of Korea, Jong-woon Lee, Professor at Hanshin University, Jung-kwan Lim, Senior Researcher at the Northeast Asia Peace and Economy Association, Kyung-yeon Moon, Professor at Jeonbuk National University, and Kyu-bin Choi, Associate Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

In his video opening remarks, Bank President Moon Byung-kyu stated, "The global health crisis caused by the spread of COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of multilateral cooperation," adding, "In inter-Korean cooperation as well, efforts should be made to seek ways to support the enhancement of North Korea’s development capabilities and to embrace North Korea as a member of the international community."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.