ARAB STATES IN NORTH KOREA’S MIDDLE EAST POLICY

Abstract

The article analyzes peculiarities of North Korea’s policy towards Arab coun- tries of the Middle East. The author of the article found that since Cold War, North Korea's Middle East policy has a pronounced anti-American and anti- Israel orientation. Its traditional priority partners in the region are states and non-state actors that have acute confrontation with the USA and Israel – Libya, Syria, Iran and radical groups fighting against Israel (Hamas, Hezbollah). A cer- tain exception may be Egypt, which during the time of President H. Mubarak maintained a pro-American orientation. It was established that the most impor- tant area of cooperation between DPRK and its Arab partners is military coop- eration, and the Middle East is a favorable market for the sale of North Korean weapons and military technologies. In the conditions of crisis state of econo- my, such cooperation helps to solve problem of lack of foreign currency. It was found that «Arab Spring» led to collapse or weakening of partner regimes in some Arab countries (primarily in Libya and Egypt), which significantly weak- ened the position of DPRK in the region and made it difficult to implement its Middle East policy. The article found that economic difficulties in 1990s prompted leadership of DPRK to move away from the ideological guidelines of Cold War era and look for new partners among wealthy monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Economic cooperation with these countries, primarily with Qa- tar, provides an important source of foreign currency inflows to the country. The priority direction of this cooperation is export of cheap labor from North Korea to the countries of the region. In fact, the article talks about a certain mechanism of evasion of international sanctions imposed on the DPRK for the implementation of its nuclear program, because to a large extent money earned by labor migrants is directed precisely to the financing of further development of nuclear and missile weapons.