Energy Cooperation With North Korea: Conditions Making Renewable Energy Appropriate

Abstract

North Korea remains one of the countries whose energy conditions should be drastically improved not just for its own people but also for the international community to achieve multiple energy-related goals under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. To generate future energy cooperation ideas, this study examines previously proposed or implemented programs between North Korea and international entities, recognizing that they have largely neglected to incorporate the evolving local energy landscape and priorities of North Korea. This study thus pays particular attention to the development and diffusion of renewable energy under the Kim Jong-un administration, from which it draws a policy-oriented suggestion that the renewable energy field could offer a path to future international energy cooperation with North Korea.