Sanctions against North Korea: A Descriptive Analysis of their Economic Impact (2000–2020)

Abstract This article examines the economic impact of sanctions on North Korea from 2000 to 2020. More specifically, it analyzes the trend of the main economic indicators—namely, GDP and trade—using statistical data from trading partners and international organizations in an effort to evaluate the overall effectiveness of this policy tool. After providing a brief overview on the evolution of the North Korean nuclear program, the first section frames the different types of sanctions imposed on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by the leading senders over the years. The second part focuses entirely on the analysis of the economic impact of these measures. The descriptive evidence suggests that the sanctions remarkably impacted the North Korean economy and trade. However, the ability of North Korea to establish an efficient mechanism of sanctions busting, backed particularly by China and Russia, has undermined the effectiveness of these sanctions.