Archive for January, 2012:

Ambassador Liu Reappears, or, Why Opera Matters

By | January 13, 2012

It is a working assumption here at Sino-NK that the Chinese Embassy has been decidedly on “the outs” with the North Korean leadership in the immediate aftermath of Kim Jong Il’s death.  The strife over the mysterious deaths of seven Chinese businessmen/tourists in late November 2011, along with the Embassy’s public implication that Kim’s death […]

China’s Naval Maneuvering in the Pacific

By | January 13, 2012

Midway through the first act of John Adam’s Nixon in China, the eponymous statesman enters into a rare lyricism to evoke the historical resonances of his journey to China, island-hopping across the Pacific via Hawaii and Guam: On our flight over from Shanghai the countryside Looked drab and grey… “We came in peace for all […]

Poetry from Pyongyang // 平壤诗歌

By | January 12, 2012

Rodong Sinmun yesterday carried a number of foreign language items, as well as a plug (in Korean) for foreign language education in the DPRK.  A positive sign? At the very least, an opportunity for two English-language students at Kim Il Sung University to get an important translation on their respective resumes of a collectively-composed poem, […]

Revisiting Wen Jiabao in Pyongyang, October 2009

By | January 10, 2012

Editor’s Note: In 2010 and 2011, China’s relations with North Korea had reached a point of extensive and expanding connectivity.  Much of the foundation of these ties lies in the agreements signed in Pyongyang during the visit of PRC Premier Wen Jiabao in early October 2009.  As North Korea starts a crucial new year and […]