It is widely believed that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are a way for North Korea to reap the benefits of foreign investment while at the same time isolating potentially problematic, capitalistic modes of production in specific regions of the country.

However, NK Pro analysis of new regulations published in the last two years indicates that in several crucial regards, the North Korean economy of today is increasingly resembling its SEZs:

Since at least the late-2000s, legal restrictions and exhortations to set up Joint Ventures and Wholly-Foreign Owned Companies in SEZs have disappeared from North Korean