The Plot Thickens: Documenting the DPRK-Xiyang Spat

By | September 06, 2012

North Korean media strikes back at a Chinese company, and the PRC state media wades into the fray. Adam Cathcart tries to translate us out of the quagmire.

“Nightmare Investment”: Documenting North Korea’s Abuse of the Haicheng Xiyang Group

By | August 15, 2012

Adam Cathcart documents and analyzes accusations of wholesale North Korean theft from and violence toward their Chinese counterparts in the mining industry.

Rumblings from Dandong: Banks and Bayonets

By | February 24, 2016

To understand politics in East Asia it is vital to keep a close eye on events in state capitols. However, it is also necessary to know what is going on at ground level – in Rason, Yanji, Hyesan, Ji’an, Sinuiju, Jilin, and of course right here in Dandong.

Investment Risks and Riddles: Zhejiang Businessmen and the DPRK

By | December 15, 2015

Chinese sources are no panacea for the dearth of official data coming from the DPRK. But with a sharp-eyed detachment, they can still help. Translating a 2013 article on DPRK economic relations with the Chinese province of Zhejiang, Matthew Bates shows us how.