As the United States appears to be stepping back from its strategy of promoting democracy in North Korea through information campaigns, China is quietly moving to fill that void.
Recent reports from Daily NK show China’s gradual efforts to reshape North Korea through technology, media, and education—a long-term strategy of engagement designed to shift North Korean attitudes and lifestyles.
Chinese tech reaches North Korean youth
A striking example is the popularity of Chinese-made MP7 and MP8 media players among North Korean teenagers. While these devices look like simple educational tools, they actually provide access to foreign media content including movies, TV shows, and music.
These gadgets, produced by Chinese small and medium enterprises, cleverly allow users to disable FM radio and Wi-Fi functions to avoid detection by North Korean authorities. Their designers clearly understand the realities inside North Korea and what consumers there actually need.
What’s particularly interesting is that these devices have become a pathway for South Korean media to reach North Korean audiences. South Korean content is essentially hitchhiking on Chinese hardware—which must create some mixed feelings for China, given their goal of spreading Chinese culture in North Korea.
Still, since these devices are opening North Korean minds to the outside world, China may already be achieving part of its strategic objectives.
China is also making inroads in North Korea’s education system. At Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, China maintains rotating faculty positions for Chinese professors and helps shape the curriculum. China is also developing an online education platform focused on advanced fields like smart agriculture, applied statistics, and basic medicine.
This approach seems designed to “sinicize” knowledge production—essentially ensuring that North Korea’s next generation of skilled workers are trained within China’s intellectual framework.
Education is crucial for any system’s long-term survival, as China well knows. These moves appear to be part of a broader strategy to extend Chinese influence over North Korea’s future generations.
Economic integration
There’s also growing cooperation between North Korea’s Mangyongdae Trading Company and Chinese electronics firms on semiconductors and displays. In this mutually beneficial arrangement, North Korea provides rare earth materials while China supplies key components. The two sides are also working together on trade infrastructure, optimizing logistics, and implementing encrypted payment systems.
This goes beyond simple trade expansion—it’s really about realigning North Korea’s tech industry with Chinese standards. China aims to gradually integrate North Korea into Northeast Asian industrial and supply chain networks, which would give China greater influence down the road.
Another key aspect of China’s strategy is providing unofficial economic support by overlooking smuggling and allowing North Korean workers to remain in the country.
Despite international sanctions, North Korean workers continue laboring in Chinese factories and construction sites, while cross-border smuggling persists. China either ignores or actively facilitates these covert channels that supply foreign currency and materials to North Korea.
For China, the North Korean regime needs to survive at a level where it can serve as a strategic asset. This is part of China’s deliberate strategy of treating North Korea as a manageable tool.
What should South Korea do?
China is gradually reshaping North Korea to bring it under Chinese influence. The problem is that South Korea and the international community haven’t responded effectively.
If South Korea stops trying to connect with North Korean hearts and minds, China will naturally step into that role. This would inevitably weaken the emotional bonds and cultural ties that come from sharing language and heritage.
The real question is who will drive social change inside North Korea. If the US and other Western countries cut democracy promotion funding and abandon this approach, the initiative for genuine change in North Korean society will shift to China.
A society under tight control is unlikely to change through external pressure alone. Real change comes from within—from people’s own hopes and aspirations. North Korea’s future may depend on who can reach its people first.
Not just South Korea, but the entire international community, including the United States, needs to recognize that the North Korean people themselves are the agents of change. We need to rethink our strategy for winning their hearts and minds. In this battle for influence, we need to take a hard look at who’s developing the most effective approach.
