North Korea’s GDP: Features and Issues

The basis for studying the North Korean economy is to gain an understanding of the size of the overall economy and the trends within it. However, owing to the fact that North Korea does not release data on its GDP and GNI, the task has fallen on the shoulders of outside researchers and such institutions as the Bank of Korea (BOK). Still, with such a lack of official data, the estimates produced have been subject to much controversy, and the question of accuracy and propriety remains unanswered.

Against this backdrop, we at the KDI Office of North Korean Economic Studies invited Dr. Kim, Byung-Yeon, an economics professor at Seoul National University and one of the most prominent experts in this area, for an interview

· Interviewer
　Lee, Suk (Senior Fellow at KDI)

· Interviewee
　Kim, Byung-Yeon
　(Economics Professor at Seoul National
　 University)