>In this age of "globalization" and
>"information" and seemingly immediate access, North Korea has succeeded in
>blocking itself from the world.
That you are ignorant of North Korea doesn't mean that "North Korea has succeeded in blocking itself from the world," whatever you mean by this remark. (In the age of neoliberalism, even a socialist nation needs forex from tourism, so you might as well visit North Korea, spend some money [but not a lot, so as not to violate U.S. sanctions], and see the country for yourself if you are interested.) It's like accusing Cuba, Iraq, Yugoslavia, etc. of "isolating themselves from the world" (the world = the United States, of course). North Korea's main trade partners are now China & Japan (but China & Japan don't count as part of the "world" in the Western eyes). It's the USA that has succeeded in isolating itself from many Third World countries (see the website of Office of Foreign Assets Control at http://www.ustreas.gov/ofac/ for the overview of U.S. economic embargoes), often even against the wishes of its "allies."
Were North Korea a free-trading, globalizing, export-industrializing nation, however, the AFL-CIO would of course be accusing it of its "aggressive dumping" causing U.S. trade deficits & taking American jobs. :)
Yoshie