Author Archive

Kaesong Complex Shutdown: No Ordinary North Korea Problem

By | February 15, 2016

The Kaesong Industrial Complex shutdown has attracted many a column inch this week. However, South Korean public opinion on the matter has been hard to gauge. Until now. Christopher Green seeks out the numbers.

A Kaesong Closure Story: The Inside Track

By | February 10, 2016

In light of South Korea’s announcement that it is “halting production” at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, Sino-NK looks back at eight of the best Daily NK stories from the last time Kaesong closed.

Focusing Illusions: ROK Opinion Polling and the North Korea Lens

By | January 19, 2016

Responding to a recent article linking attitudes toward North Korea with an emerging form of nationalism in South Korea, Christopher Green argues that the real drivers of identity and attitudinal change are to be found elsewhere.

Rhetoric vs Reality: 5.24 and North Korean Workers in Dandong

By | December 03, 2015

In response to sanctions on South Korean business and Pyongyang’s will to export more labor, the focus of inter-Korean exchange has shifted to the city of Dandong, “another Kaesong Industrial Complex,” according to anthropologist Kang Ju-won. Christopher Green looks at Kang’s recent article on Pressian.

Dead on Arrival? Taking Trade Notes in Dandong

By and | October 20, 2015

Which North Koreans turned up in the Chinese city of Dandong for a recent trade fair? And does this event represent a real stabilization or upgrade in bilateral relations? Sino-NK reads the sources.

2nd Miracle on the Han: Mass Media Unites over History by Ministerial Fiat

By | October 09, 2015

The South Korean mass media rarely unites in condemnation of a domestic policy, but controversial and deeply flawed plans to “re-nationalize” the production of secondary school history textbooks made it happen. Christopher Green investigates.

From the Borderland to Beijing: Chinese Civilian Shot in Changbai

By | September 20, 2015

A number of incidents involving North Korean soldiers in the Sino-NK borderland have recently been reported in the South Korean and Chinese media. Christopher Green takes a closer look at one of them from the Korean perspective.

Yongusil 72: The End of Ethnic Nationalism? A Review

By and | August 10, 2015

Change is afoot within the national conscious of the (South) Korean body politic. Sino-NK’s Steven Denney and Christopher Green review the latest piece of scholarship devoted to explaining the latest changes and variations in Korean nationhood and nationalism.

Putting Statistics to the May 30th Measure

By | May 20, 2015

Interpreting economic data in and about North Korea is tricky; individual data points can balloon out of control. Christopher Green looks at the debate over North Korean economic growth and what really happened on May 30.