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Dissertation_Seung-Ook Lee.pdf (2.87 MB)

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Is China Colonizing North Korea? Unraveling Geopolitical Economy in the Production of Territory

Lee, Seung-Ook
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366281881

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Geography.
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 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.
Joel Wainwright (Advisor)
Mathew Coleman (Committee Member)
Bruce Cumings (Committee Member)
Ed Malecki (Committee Member)
Becky Mansfield (Committee Member)
328 p.
Asian Studies; Geography; International Relations
China; North Korea; South Korea; Territory; Geopolitics; Geoeconomics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lee, S.-O. (2013). Is China Colonizing North Korea? Unraveling Geopolitical Economy in the Production of Territory [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366281881

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lee, Seung-Ook. Is China Colonizing North Korea? Unraveling Geopolitical Economy in the Production of Territory. 2013. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366281881.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lee, Seung-Ook. "Is China Colonizing North Korea? Unraveling Geopolitical Economy in the Production of Territory." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366281881

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.