The historical development of the political relationship between North Korea and China, and its future

North Korea is an historical anachronism in the global society of today. This paper presents a different approach in analyzing why. North Korea’s current status can be said to be the result of a long line of foreign influence on the Korean peninsula, as well as a strong cultural heritage from the Korean and the Confucian tradition. The most influential actor on the Korean peninsula has been its immediate neighbour China, which has spread its influence over the peninsula from ancient times, up until today, and will also keep exerting its influence in the future, politically, economically and militarily. To better understand the North Korean state, its society, politics and ideology that continue to confuse and amaze observers and analysts, it is crucial to understand the long history of Chinese influence. By analyzing and understanding this very special relationship and its development, the North Korean state may be better understood and its politics and actions may be better predicted. The development of the political relationship between North Korea and China is in this paper analyzed from a historical comparative analysis perspective, a political realist perspective and from a transitologist perspective. The answers that are being presented are that North Korea is becoming more and more dependent on China, at the same time as China tries to distance itself from North Korea and solve an internal debate over which direction to take in the future. However, the two countries are tangled up in an intricate and delicate web of economic aid and assistance, trade and profit, military confrontations and negotiations, and a very special form of interdependency. The political choices that one part takes influence the other directly, as it has done throughout history and will continue to do in future. This paper explains why, how and when these decisions and historical events have done so, what have been their results, and what impact they will have on the future