ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by reviewing the economy of North Korea, which was in steep decline relative to that of South Korea in the early 1990s, and the net effect was to exacerbate feelings of vulnerability in Pyongyang. It then analyzes the economic infrastructure in the North, specifically transport and communications, highlighting a number of weaknesses. Finally, it provides an overview of conditions in the energy sector in North Korea. Given the ongoing conflict with the South, the chapter stresses the important national security significance attached to the nuclear program and how calculations of relative power must be factored into any informed analysis of the roots of the nuclear crisis instigated by the North in the early 1990s.
