Is China Colonizing North Korea?

Is China Colonizing North Korea? Unraveling Geopolitical Economy in the Production of Territory Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Seung-Ook Lee, M.A. Department of Geography The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Joel Wainwright, Advisor Mathew Coleman Bruce Cumings Ed Malecki Becky Mansfield Copyright by Seung-Ook Lee 2013 Abstract This dissertation examines the complex articulations between geopolitical and geoeconomic imperatives across national borders in the production of state territory. More specifically, it investigates the development of territorial linkages between North Korea and northeast China, scrutinizing the political-economic conditions that underlie these bilateral relations. My central thesis is that the recent changes in political-economic relations between these two countries have resulted not from a unilateral economic movement on the part of China – a ‘colonization’ – but instead through the mutual articulation of two processes: on one hand, North Korea’s deployment of territorial strategies to leverage its regional capacities and, on the other, China’s geo-economic approach to enhancing security in the border region. I contend that the discourse of China’s colonization of North Korea that has been constructed and disseminated by South Koreans reveals that both liberals and conservatives in South Korea desire North Korea as a sort of colony, albeit in different forms. This argument unfolds in three parts. First, in Chapter 2, I begin with a theoretical elaboration of geopolitical economy in the production of territory. Here I examine two different dialectical interactions which are deeply entangled with the production of state territory—the dialectics between geopolitical and geoeconomic logics of power and between territorial practices and representations of territory. Second, in Part I. Production of Territory ‘within’ North Korea, I explore how the territorial logic of ii the North Korean political economy works. Chapter 3 analyzes postcolonial conditions in North Korea that dictate its territorial representations and practices. In Chapter 4, in a close engagement with Foucault’s theory of governmentality and Gottmann’s idea of territory, I argue that it is not that North Korea has no choice but to open its territory due to economic suffering; it is instead that North Korea’s own imperative, “security first, economy next,” determines how it produces territory. Third, in Part II. Production of Territory ‘outside’ North Korea, I scrutinize the forces from outside increasingly implicated in the production of territory of North Korea. Chapter 5 discusses China’s vision, interests, and strategies for North Korea. I claim that China’s strategy for North Korea, an active deployment of geoeconomic means to enhance geopolitical security in the border region, newly reproduces North Korea's territory. In Chapter 6, I trace out a genealogy of the discourse of ‘China’s colonization of North Korea’ in South Korea. I argue that political conflicts inside South Korea in the conception of North Korea – between an object of geopolitical absorption and a geoeconomic object – have entailed the competitive appropriation of this discourse, and have affected the way North Korean territory is produced. iii Acknowledgements This dissertation owes a great deal to a number of people and institutions. First, I would like to thank advisor, Joel Wainwright, for his ongoing encouragement and support of my research throughout my graduate education. Without his intellectual inspiration and moral support, it would have been impossible to complete this work. I am also grateful to my committee members – Mathew Coleman, Bruce Cumings, Ed Malecki, and Becky Mansfield – for their professional advice and valuable insights into my research and writing. I am so lucky to have them on my committee. I am also in debt to Bae-Gyoon Park and Jim Glassman who have always supported and encouraged me. Many special thanks to Will Jones who read through my dissertation and provided invaluable comments and suggestions. The fieldwork for this research was made possible by the financial support of research grants from Association for Asian Studies, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, and Office of International Affairs of the Ohio State University. I would like to thank the Department of Geography and the Graduate School of the Ohio State University for fellowships that allowed me to focus on writing the dissertation. Many thanks go to my friends, colleagues, and other people who in one way or another have contributed to this project in Columbus, LA, Seoul, Beijing, Changchun, Dandong, Yanji, and other parts of the world. I would like to thank Nurcan Atalan- Helicke, Katherine Bennett, Dae-Woon Cha, Dongin Choi, Feng Chui, Jamie Doucette, iv Nicolle Etchart, Sangyoung Han, Hyeseon Jeong, Jaewoo Jun, Hyeyoung Kim, Hyun Lee, Inhwan Kim, Kyung-Duk Lee, Sang-Hyuk Lee, Yun-Chie Lee, Jong-Kook Park, Ying-a Piao, Lili Wang, Theresa Wong, Xi Laoshi, Xie Laoshi, Pyung-Sop Yang, Jebong Yoo, Reverend Yoon, Seung-Hyun Yoon, Xiao Yu, Hui-Zhi Zhang. I am also grateful to my colleagues at the Seminar for Theory of Political Geography for productive discussions and helpful comments on Chapter 2. Last, but certainly not least, I am grateful to my family. My father and mother in Daejeon and my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and Suk-Young in Seoul always encourage and support me through my life from Seoul to the U.S. and especially in China. I would also like to thank my brother’s family. And this dissertation is dedicated to my wife and best friend, Ahyoung. Without her love, care, encouragement, and understanding, I could have never finished this work. v Vita 2002…………………B.A. Geography, Seoul National University 2005…………………M.A. Geography, Seoul National University 2007 to present………PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University. Publications Yoon, S-H and Lee, S-O. 2013. “From old comrades to new partnerships: dynamic development of economic relations between China and North Korea,” The Geographical Journal 179(1): 19-31. Lee, S-O. 2011. “Review of Sheppard et al, A World of Difference: Encountering and Contesting Development,” Human Geography 4(2): 125-128. Lee, S-O and Wainwright, J. 2010. “Revisiting regulation theory for the analysis of South Korean capitalism,” Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea 13(4): 562-583. Lee, S-O, Kim, S-J, and Wainwright, J. 2010. “Mad cow militancy: neoliberal hegemony and social resistance in South Korea,” Political Geography, 29(7): 359-369. Fields of Study Major Field: Geography vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... iv Vita .................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ......................................................................................................................x List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xi List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................1 Prologue ..................................................................................................................1 China takes over North Korea? ...............................................................................7 Research Questions and Argument .......................................................................15 Research Methods and Outline of Dissertation ....................................................19 Epilogue ................................................................................................................21 Chapter 2: Geopolitical Economy in the Production of Territory ....................................23 Introduction ...........................................................................................................23 What is Territory? .................................................................................................27 A Dialectic of Capitalism and Territorialism? ......................................................33 Henri Lefebvre and Territorial Dialectics .............................................................37 Conclusion: Geopolitical Economy in the Production of Territory ......................45 Part I. Production of Territory ‘within’ North Korea Chapter 3: North Korea in the Colonial Present ...............................................................56 Introduction ...........................................................................................................56 vii Western Representations of North Korea .............................................................58 A Postcolonial Reading of Juche ..........................................................................67 Conclusion ............................................................................................................79

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