This book, based upon the correspondence of William Nelson Lovatt, Korea's first commissioner of customs in Pusan, looks at the informal imperialism exercised by China over Korea in the 1880s, as China's increasing interventionism affected Lovatt's hiring, his experiences in Korea, and his...

Introduction: The development-geopolitics nexus in North Korea -- State building and late development in North Korea -- Post-war reconstruction and catch-up industrialisation -- Geopolitical contestation and the challenge to North Korean development -- Economic decline and the crisis of the...