Justin V. Hastings’ A Most Enterprising Country provides an unusual portrait of North Korea. Rather than an economically backward, hermit state, Hastings’s North Korea is an active, and often innovative, participant in global trade. A scholar of International Relations and Comparative Politics, Hastings draws upon an impressive range of sources and puts them to creative use to shed light on the opaque streams of commerce flowing to and from the country.

A Most Enterprising Country asks how such a politically and economically isolated nation like North Korea can sustain itself “in large part by international trade and integration into the global economy” (3). Rather than limiting his focus to North Korea and North Korean actors, Hastings provides case studies of how goods, capital, and expertise transcend geographic, commercial, and legal boundaries. Often, as in the case of North Korean participation in drug smuggling, North Korean commerce involves foreign participants and illicit means. Further, it does not always include the participation of central authorities in Pyongyang. So, in addition to state-run enterprises, Hastings uncovers the activities of small-business owners running auto repair shops, low-level bureaucrats involved in illicit trade activities, or Korean–Chinese traders in northeastern China. He does so through interviews with Korean and foreign participants in North Korean trade networks, as well as creative readings of reports produced by multilateral organizations.

The book consists of four main chapters that focus on the development of North Korean commerce since the end of the Cold War. Each chapter provides a series of vignettes that highlight how different types of trade networks operate: state-run enterprises, private businesses and traders, “hybrid” operations between government officials and private businesses, and foreign-invested companies in North Korea.

The first chapter provides the historical context for understanding the emergence of modern-day North Korean trade. It pays specific attention to various responses to the “Arduous March” between 1994 and 1998, during which the country endured widespread starvation and death. In the face of famine and production failures, both official and nonofficial participation in market activities intensified to previously unseen levels. Hastings argues that the dire domestic situation forced the North Korean government to tacitly overlook commercial activities. Testifying to the participation of private citizens, approximately 78 percent of national income came from informal markets between 1998 and 2008 (54). Ultimately, according to Hastings, the North Korean economy came to be run by a “Darwinian economic logic” motivated as much by survival as profit (8).

Chapters 2 and 3 focus primarily on the period following 2005 and describe the functioning of the different types of North Korean trade networks. Chapter 2 examines how state enterprises responded to increased international scrutiny—rather than engaging directly in the transfer of goods (both licit and illicit), they increasingly took on roles as brokers and intermediaries. Additionally, they filtered their transactions through foreign brokers and financial institutions (e.g., Korean–Japanese, Taiwanese). Chapter 3 turns to the activities of individual traders and partnerships between private and state actors. While the former (e.g., small-scale traders on the North Korean–Chinese border) have received both popular and scholarly attention, Hastings provides a novel look at hybrid enterprises, the partnerships between state and non-state actors. Drawing on interviews with North Korean, Korean Chinese, and Chinese participants, Hastings deftly explains how entrepreneurs work with low- and mid-level North Korean bureaucrats to run a wide range of businesses. Most notably, he describes the inner workings of one of the most visible aspects of North Korea for outsiders, the North Korean restaurants found throughout East and South Asia. While often seen primarily as organs of the North Korean state, these businesses are much more complicated. According to Hastings, the North Korean state often is involved primarily in the recruitment of labor, while private Chinese–Korean or Chinese investors and managers manage the daily operations. Further, he notes the competition between restaurants backed by competing factions within the North Korean bureaucracy and those without any official support.

The final chapter highlights the difficulty that foreign businesses have faced in the country—of particular value are the interviews with Chinese investors who have attempted to parse the convoluted regulatory environment found in the country. According to Hastings, the challenge of foreign investment stems from the ambiguity of regulations and laws in North Korea—while it has provided flexibility for North Koreans to respond to changing domestic and international circumstances, it has resulted in uncertainty and losses for outsiders.

A Most Enterprising Country represents a valuable contribution to the scholarship on North Korea and globalization. Its focus on the efficacy of North Korean trade is a refreshing counterpoint to narratives about the North Korean state’s repressive policies and its failing economy. More historically minded scholars may ask whether Hastings could have provided a richer discussion of the political and historical contexts associated with various case studies found in the book. Nevertheless, this work provides new insights into the realities on the ground in North Korea that are accessible and engaging. Indeed, the wealth of vignettes found throughout the volume make it a useful book to assign for undergraduate courses in political science, economics, and history as well as for nonacademic readers interested in a primer on the North Korean economy. More broadly, for those without a specific interest in North Korea, Hastings discussion of illicit trade and “hybrid” trade networks sheds light onto alternative forms of commerce that drive the global economy.