Capitalism from Below with North Korean Characteristics: The State, Capitalist Class Formation, and Foreign Investment in Comparative Perspective

Post-socialist transformation has been studied extensively in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other states in Asia. This article will examine the North Korean experience and suggests how North Korea's post-socialist experience can be positioned within the broader picture of post-socialism. In this article we focus on the following three areas: the state sector, capitalist class formation and capital accumulation, and the role of foreign investment. We rely on a reading of North Korean laws and North Korean official publications, previous survey work involving firms dealing with North Korea in the past and present, as well as official North Korean census data to offer as full a picture as is possible.