朝鲜经济特区的建设与发展过程异常曲折，不仅特区本身没有迅速发展起来，也并未带领整个朝鲜走上全面的改革开放之路。究其原因在于：朝鲜经济特区在对外合作中过于保守、形式单一，过于强调主权；特区开放性和自主性不足；特区政策缺乏稳定性，市场经济环境缺失；特区在发展的同时全国并没有适时跟进。近年朝鲜开始了新的建设经济开发区的决策与规划，但经济特区发展依然存在诸多未知因素。
The construction and development of the special economic zones inNorth Korea is an arduous process. As a result，the special economic zones are not developed quickly as expected and not to mention the objective that the special economic zones lead the whole North Korea to the road of comprehensive reform and opening up. The reasons lie in that：the special economic zones in North Korea are too conservative with single form and stress the sovereignty too much during the process of cooperation with outside parties； the special economic zones are restrained due to the low levels of opening up and self-driven spirit； the policies of the special economic zones are not stable and the market economy there is underdeveloped； the development of the whole country doesn’t coincide with that of the special economic zones. North Korea has initiated a new decision and planning for the construction of economic development zones in recent years，however，the development of the special economic zones may still face many unknown factors.
