North Korea's Surprising Economic Boom | The Capital Cable #137

The Wall Street Journal recently called North Korea "the world's most surprising economic success story," and The New York Times described the "miraculous transformation" under Kim Jong-un: 3.7 percent growth in 2024, a Pyongyang building boom, and a capital remade by Chinese cars and Russian cash. What is driving it, what does the view from Pyongyang obscure, and what does it tell us about Kim's rule fifteen years on? 

Join the CSIS Korea Chair for The Capital Cable #137, as hosts Mark Lippert and Victor Cha are joined by Timothy W. Martin, Korea Bureau Chief of The Wall Street Journal, and Rachel Minyoung Lee, Senior Fellow with the Korea Program and 38 North at the Stimson Center.

Timothy W. Martin is the Korea bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal in Seoul, overseeing the Journal's coverage of North and South Korea. He previously wrote about Samsung from Seoul, but in prior stints at the Journal's New York, Atlanta and Chicago offices, he covered Wall Street's biggest buyers, painkiller addiction, airlines and food.

Rachel Minyoung Lee is a Senior Fellow for the Stimson Center’s Korea Program and 38 North. She is also co-chair of the North Korea Economic Forum, which is part of the policy program at the George Washington University’s Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS). Lee was a North Korea collection expert and analyst with Open Source Enterprise (OSE; formerly known as Open Source Center) in the US government from 2000 to 2019. 

This event is made possible by general support to CSIS.