By exploring the "China factor" in the North Korean human rights debate, this book evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of applying the Chinese development-based approach to human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). 

The contributors to this book treat the relevance of the Chinese experience to the DPRK seriously and evaluate how it might apply to easing North Korean human rights issues. The engagement with the debate about the relevance of the developmental or development-based approach to North Korea. In doing so, they problematise, scrutinise and contextualise the development-based approach in North Korea, including China, and examine different responses to such an approach and the influence of domestic politics on these responses. 

This is a valuable contribution to discussion on possible ways forward for human rights in North Korea and an insightful critique of the Northeast Asian development model more broadly.