Author Archive
Chinese Doctors and North Korea: Reviewing the Pattern
A Reuters report on Chinese doctors treating North Korean leader Kim Jong-un spurs Adam Cathcart to deeper investigation of party-to-party medical relations.
Law, Order, and Heroin in Dandong
The border city of Dandong maintains an important position for the Chinese Communist Party in its relations with the Kim Jong-un regime. Adam Cathcart investigates the latest sources.
Minority Affairs in the Xi Jinping Era: Hardened Cadre on the Periphery
What does the increasingly harsh tone of Chinese Communist Party’s policy toward ethnic minorities mean for Koreans in the northeast? Adam Cathcart looks at officials and the new Xi environment.
North Korean Markets and the High Seas: A Review of Justin Hastings’ “A Most Enterprising Country”
Is North Korea ready to radically expand its interactions with the international trading system? According to one scholar, it already has.
North Korean Citizens in Changbai: Social Insurance, Residency Rights, and Chinese Informants
Local Chinese governments are making changes in the way they deal with some undocumented North Korean residents in their border communities. Adam Cathcart investigates.
SEZ Revival Tour? Kim Jong-un in Dandong
Coverage of Kim Jong-un’s first diplomatic outing of 2019 yields little information on who Kim met in Dandong en route for Beijing. Since the border city is where the rubber of bilateral policy meets the road, it deserves more attention. Adam Cathcart does the honors.
Ending the Korean War: Donald Trump as Ex-President
Adam Cathcart looks at the end of the Korean War and its resonance today from an American perspective. Cathcart argues that Trump is in many respects in Korea acting more like an ex-President than a conventional, active one.
From New York to Dandong: Maximum Pressure
Digging into sources outside the Anglosphere, Adam Cathcart finds that developments along the border and further into the interior of both China and North Korea indicate any American desire to maintain economic pressure on the DPRK will be difficult, if not impossible.
