Editing Economy of North Korea (section)

===Joint ventures===
Some South Korean companies launched joint ventures in areas like animation and computer software, and Chinese traders have done a booming business back and forth across the [[China–North Korea border]]. In a 2007 survey of 250 Chinese operations in North Korea, a majority reported paying bribes.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/1024/feature-invade-north-korea-cola-gabriel-schulze-gady-epstein_2.html |title=Invading North Korea |magazine=Forbes |date=October 24, 2011 |access-date=October 9, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009090524/http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/1024/feature-invade-north-korea-cola-gabriel-schulze-gady-epstein_2.html |archive-date=October 9, 2011 }}</ref> Robert Suter, who headed the Seoul office of Swedish-Swiss power generation company [[ABB]], says ABB was staking out a position in North Korea, "It is the same as it was in China years ago. You had to be there and you had to build trust." A number of South Korean enterprises were mainly active in a specially developed industrial zone in Kaesŏng Industrial Region and Chinese enterprises were known to be involved in a variety of activities in trade and manufacturing in North Korea. European enterprises founded in 2005 the European Business Association (EBA), Pyongyang, a ''de facto'' [[chamber of commerce]] representing a number of European-invested joint ventures and other businesses.<ref>"Pyongyang Business Group celebrates 1st anniversary". ''[[The Korea Herald]]''. April 28, 2006.</ref> [[Ch'ongryŏn]], the pro-North Korean General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, broadcast on their TV channel in 2008 a TV film in three parts featuring foreign investment and business in North Korea. This film was put on a [[YouTube]] channel called "BusinessNK" and could be watched together with a number of other videos on foreign joint ventures as well as other investment and business activities in North Korea.

Though no international banks operated in the isolated socialist state in 2013, foreign companies were said to be increasingly interested in dealing with North Korea.<ref name="baron-20130311">{{cite web |url=http://38north.org/2013/03/jbaron031113/ |title=Book Review: A CAPITALIST IN NORTH KOREA |author=Jeff Baron |work=[[38 North]] |publisher=School of Advanced International Studies |date=March 11, 2013 |access-date=March 11, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313063643/http://38north.org/2013/03/jbaron031113/ |archive-date=March 13, 2013 }}</ref>

A flat LCD television factory in North Korea was funded by the Ch'ongryŏn in 2010.<ref>{{cite news|first=Seong-Jin |last=Kim |script-title=ko:"평양서 슬림.평면형 TV 인기"<조선신보> |date=January 20, 2010 |url=http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/politics/2010/01/19/0511000000AKR20100119223000014.HTML |work=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |access-date=January 31, 2010 |language=ko |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610141118/http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/politics/2010/01/19/0511000000AKR20100119223000014.HTML |archive-date=June 10, 2011 }}</ref>

The [[Rason Special Economic Zone]] was established in the early 1990s, in the northeastern corner of the country bordering China and Russia. In June 2011, an agreement with China was made to establish a joint free trade area on North Korea's [[Hwanggumpyong Island|Hwanggumpyong]] and [[Wihwa Island]]s and China's border area near [[Dandong]].<ref name="38north-20100729">{{cite web|url=http://38north.org/2012/02/hgp021712/ |title=China's Embrace of North Korea: The Curious Case of the Hwanggumpyong Island Economic Zone |author1=Robert Kelley |author2=Michael Zagurek |author3=Bradley O. Babson |work=[[38 North]] |publisher=U.S.–Korea Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies |date=February 19, 2012 |access-date=March 1, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224134715/http://38north.org/2012/02/hgp021712/ |archive-date=February 24, 2012 }}</ref>
North Korea designated over a dozen new [[Special economic zone (North Korea)|special economic zones]] in 2013 and 2014.<ref name="38north-20180716">{{cite web |author=Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, [[Patrick M. Cronin]] |date=July 16, 2018 |title=How the North Korean Economy Should – and Shouldn't – be Used in Negotiations |url=https://www.38north.org/2018/07/bksilbersteinpcronin071618/ |access-date=July 24, 2018 |work=[[38 North]] |publisher=The Henry L. Stimson Center |archive-date=July 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723183642/https://www.38north.org/2018/07/bksilbersteinpcronin071618/ |url-status=live }}</ref>