There was a lot more mingling and trade back in the 70s and 80s, but after the Soviet Union dissolved and China opened up to the West the DPRK was forced to close its border.
It’s only recently that the DPRK has started to come out of international isolation through its close ties with Russia that they have started to have a lot more cross-border exchanges with China again.
They have opened up zones for tourism and i believe they have set up a couple of special economic zones as well. That being said, unfortunately it is still nowhere near as open of a relationship with China as they used to have 50 years ago.
I hope that can gradually change, but there is a pretty big rift between the two economic systems and the DPRK needs to be careful to not allow its domestic economy to be overwhelmed by an influx of Chinese goods.
There was a lot more mingling and trade back in the 70s and 80s, but after the Soviet Union dissolved and China opened up to the West the DPRK was forced to close its border.
It’s only recently that the DPRK has started to come out of international isolation through its close ties with Russia that they have started to have a lot more cross-border exchanges with China again.
They have opened up zones for tourism and i believe they have set up a couple of special economic zones as well. That being said, unfortunately it is still nowhere near as open of a relationship with China as they used to have 50 years ago.
I hope that can gradually change, but there is a pretty big rift between the two economic systems and the DPRK needs to be careful to not allow its domestic economy to be overwhelmed by an influx of Chinese goods.