Hong Kong–North Korea relations ( ko, 홍콩-조선민주주의인민공화국 관계) are
bilateral relations
Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...
.
History
From the establishment of Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1945 until after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1997, there were no official relations. During the Korean War and the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the two sides were on opposing sides. Hong Kong, as first a colony then a
dependent territory
A dependent territory, dependent area, or dependency (sometimes referred as an external territory) is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state, yet remains politically outside the controlli ...
communist bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
during the second half of the 20th century.
Following the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China, North Korea was able to open a Consulate-General in February 2000 by virtue of its diplomatic relations with Beijing, having previously not been allowed to establish a trade mission during British rule. The Consulate General is located in Wan Chai on
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...
. In October 2023, North Korean officials informed the Chinese the Consulate General would be closed as part of broad cutbacks in its diplomatic missions.
Defectors from North Korea
Hong Kong had been involved in two cases of
North Korean defectors
Since the division of Korea after the end of World War II, North Koreans have fled from the country in spite of legal punishment for political, ideological, religious, economic, moral, personal, or nutritional reasons. Such North Koreans are re ...
. In 1996, a family of 16 people escaped from North Korea to Hong Kong via China. Among them five children and one pregnant woman applied for political asylum and were further transferred to South Korea.
In July 2016, Ri Jong-yol went to Hong Kong as part of the North Korean delegation for the
International Mathematical Olympiad
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except i ...
at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; he defected immediately after he won a silver medal at the competition and sought refuge at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in Hong Kong. The defector eventually left for South Korea around the last week of September 2016 after staying about 80 days in Hong Kong.
Economic relations
Hong Kong is the second largest trading partner of North Korea. Hong Kong and North Korea cooperate in several international organisations, with a focus on social and cultural issues. Despite Hong Kong being the second freest market economy in the world and North Korea being a
planned economy
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, part ...
, the economic success of Hong Kong had served as a model for the planning of the Sinuiju Special Administrative Region, described by its proponents as being the "Hong Kong of North Korea"; it ultimately never went into fruition due to
Yang Bin
Yang Bin (楊邠) (died December 24, 950''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 289.Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter), formally the Prince of Hongnong (弘農王) (as posthumously honored during Later Zhou), was a chancellor of the Chinese ...
Eddie Ng
Eddie Ng Hak-kim GBS, JP (, born c. 1953) is a former Secretary for Education in the Hong Kong Government. From 2017, he is a temporary adjunct professor at the MBA Centre of Shanghai University.Facebook page stating that he "anticipated exchanges in cultural and educational affairs will be strengthened in the future." Ng's statement was received negatively by the public, with netizens noting that North Korean style "
brainwashing
Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwash ...
" should not be a shared common ground between Hong Kong and North Korea.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hong Kong-North Korea relations
Korea, North
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...