: A strategic area for European investment in DPRK

Published in: Park, M.K., Seliger, B., Park, S.J. (Eds.) Europe - North Korea: Between Humanitarianism and Business?, LIT Verlag, Global Cultural and Economic Research, pp. 249-268 [ISBN 978-3-643-10351-2].This paper provides an overview of main problems affecting the development of North Korean regions. It recognizes the importance of transport and logistics as key factors in regional economic growth. A critical overview of main economic areas in terms of market size, industrial specializations, accessibility, and infrastructure provision, concludes that Nampo is the most efficient location for European companies that are willing to use North Korea as a base for producing and exporting their goods. Conclusions are based on recent figures about maritime traffics and hinterland characteristic

Inchon

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryWorld/?view=usa&ci=9780195130751This paper is a short synthesis about the port city of Incheon from its early phases of development in the nineteenth century to nowadays role as transport hub and free economic zone

How far can one go? : how distance matters in island development

Island development trajectories are heavily impacted by their relevance, similarity, complementarity and value in relation to continental development pathways. I would argue that this is so, also because of the physical proximity of islands to their respective metropolis, making the former island units in and of their respective mainland. This paper proposes a politics of distance. It examines how physical detachment from the mainland (and from central government) impacts on an island’s ability to determine its own destiny and developmental course. This paper does so by reviewing how near islands and remote islands have: (a) nurtured different levels of jurisdictional status and autonomy; and (b) used that jurisdictional resource, where available, to chart their own development trajectory, in ways that may be similar, complementary, different and outright in opposition to mainland ambitions and plans. In such liaisons, remote islands are more likely to avoid the clutches, overtures and demands of (more distant) powers—and thus depart from mainland agendas—than near islands.peer-reviewe

Famine and Reform in North Korea

North Korea has been experiencing a food emergency for more than a decade, and in the 1990s experienced a famine that may have claimed one million lives. The crisis is distinguished by its protracted nature, and while conditions have eased somewhat in recent years, the situation remains quite precarious and the country could lapse back into famine. This paper examines the origins of the food crisis, the impact of the 1990s famine, and the prospects for resolution of the North Korean emergency in light of economic reforms initiated in 2002 and the subsequent diplomatic confrontation over the country's nuclear program.famine, North Korea, reform of socialist systems, transitional economies

The flight of Icarus? Incheon's transformation from port gateway to global city

Many Taylor & Francis and Routledge books are now available as eBooks; see www.tandf.co.uk and www.eBookstore.tandf.co.ukThis chapter examines the relationship between freight and urban development in the case of the South Korean city of Incheon. Functionally linked to the capital Seoul as main gateway of the Gyeongin corridor, home to a major seaport (second after Busan) and new international airport, the local and national government have been especially aggressive in promoting all modes of freight transportation and logistics activity, as well as free economic zones, notably based on the "Pentaport" concept. The case of Incheon thus provides a site for exploring how (and with what consequences) cities in export-oriented Asian nations have gone about planning for heightened and elaborated flows of goods. Furthermore, it explores how logistic activities co-exist with the ambitions of Incheon - and South Korea as a whole - of becoming a Northeast Asia's knowledge and business hub. In light of the multiplication of other projects nationally and in Asia, and of the competition from Chinese manufacturers and transportation providers, this case provides some insights into what trends may emerge in the future

Inside the pond : an analysis of Northeast Asia’s long‐term maritime dynamics

International audienceThe analysis of historical vessel movements is proposed in this paper to compare recent Northeast Asian port and maritime dynamics with previous development stages back to the late nineteenth century. The changing distribution of vessel calls at and between Northeast Asian ports reveals important shifts of maritime connectivity over time, from the emergence of Japan as the dominant player in the region to a present-day more complex pattern with Hong Kong, Busan, and Shanghai as the major hubs. The analysis also underlines the uneven importance of domestic, intraregional, and extraregional flows as well as the existence of localized, peripheral subnetworks including small and medium-sized ports