North Korean Sanctions
In the international political world, North Korea has been breaking all kinds of boundaries in nuclear weapons. As a result, the United Nations has been increasing its sanctions toward North Korea specifically because of the peace treaty that was signed between North and South Korea after the Korean Conflict. These sanctions are designed to cut them off from the outside world so that they see how intertwined they are with other countries and that nuclear arms do not have a place in that part of the world. This means no international shipping and no international trade at all.
So now the North Korean government is attempting to get around the sanctions to acquire outside currency and build up their own economy. They have even been sending workers to China to work in the economic development zones. The government then takes a percentage of their pay to use as hard currency now that they have not been able to export their own goods. Since container ships from other areas of the world are no longer calling those ports international freight shipping has essentially been shut down.
For North Korea it seems to be a matter of pride that they have gone to such extremes. Unfortunately it seems the Korean people are the ones that will be affected most negatively. Hopefully both sides will be able to come to an equally beneficial agreement so that no further conflicts will occur. It will only help the international economy to have free flowing trade with all of the countries in this area of Asia.