While North Korea is readily perceived as the “hermit kingdom,” the Kim Jong Un regime actively engages in multilateral efforts to combat climate change. Sangkuk Kim (Researcher, Freie Universitaet Berlin) and Eric J. Ballbach (Visiting Fellow, German Institute of International and Security Affairs) analyze the rationales, motives, and strategies that drive the North Korean regime’s climate diplomacy. The authors identify capacity-building incentives for regime survival and tangible financial opportunities as the key motives for DPRK’s engagement with international actors; however, they assess that such an engagement will not lead to a more extensive engagement in other sectors. As such, Kim and Ballbach recommend that the international community separates environment and security issues while dealing with North Korea.
