Essays
Spaces of Leisure: The Socialist Modern at Rest and Play
In this final essay of a new triliogy, Robert Winstanley-Chesters traces connections between early repertoires of promenading on the banks of the Taedong and contemporary watery manifestations at Munsu and Rungna.
How Long Will the Umbrellas Hold Out? Report from Hong Kong
Sino-NK’s Junior Fellow for 2013-2014, Byul Ryan-Im, reports from the barricades of Occupy Central.
Purges, Promotions, and Foreign Policy: Lessons from Kim Il-Sung
Using recent power shuffles in the Pyongyang security elite as a backdrop, this essay investigates the peculiar roots and practices of North Korean purges.
New Era, New Challenges: North Korea Analysis on Virgin Soil
We have more information now than ever before on the politics of the North Korean leadership. Using insights from the the politics of authoritarianism literature, this essay suggests the need for a robust framework of analysis to meet the challenges of the new era.
Spaces of Leisure: From Cinematic Birth to Physical Culture
Considering the development of leisure and entertainment in North Korea Robert Winstanley-Chesters tracks its movement from initial strategies focusing on the purely ideologic, political or cultural, to a return in the 1970s to a focus on sporting activity and spatiality.