Author Archive
North Korea’s China Connection: Documenting Transnational Cadre Ties during the North Korean Revolution, 1945-1949
North Korea’s China Connection: Documenting Transnational Cadre Ties during the North Korean Revolution, 1945-1949 by Charles Kraus The history of Chinese-North Korean relations has been dominated by the largest personalities. While it is easy to understand why Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong have loomed large over the historiography, this tendency to focus on “the […]
Reappraising Chinese-Korean Relations in the Wake of June 25
Reappraising Chinese-Korean Relations in the Wake of June 25 by Charles Kraus In anticipation of the upcoming 62nd anniversary of June 25, a date which is commonly known as the “start” of the Korean War, the North Korea International Documentation Project (NKIDP) prepared for release the translation of 34 Chinese documents from Zhou Enlai’s Manuscripts since […]
Between Yan’an and Pyongyang: The Case of Choe Chang-Ik
In navigating what is often a purposefully non-transparent alliance, history can be a useful guide to understanding the mechanics of the relationship between China and North Korea, and in some cases, the complex feelings of obligation and betrayal. At SinoNK.com, we endeavor to document the historical connections between the Chinese Communist Party and North Korea, as […]
Lady Gaga Meets Tunnel Warfare: Chronicling Chinese Educational Experiences in Pyongyang
Transnational educational linkages take time to develop, and they require steady cultivation. After thirty years of such exchanges in the US-China relationship, students and faculty on both sides of the Pacific still find themselves confronting immense cultural and expectation gaps. How one navigates (or celebrates) such divides, in large measure, determines the value of the […]
There Goes the Neighborhood? Zhang Dejiang, Chongqing, and Chinese-North Korean Relations
Sino-NK’s editors are on the move, fleeing North: Managing Editor Charles Kraus is in Toronto for the Association for Asian Studies conference, and Chief Editor Adam Cathcart is on assignment in the PRC’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Region. Goings-on in Beijing and further south in Chongqing, however, are at the heart of this Krausian missive. — […]
Sanctions, Shedding Tears, and New Developments in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region: Recent KCNA Coverage on China
Please click here to view KCNA File No. 9 in its entirety KCNA File No. 9, 5 February 2012-11 February 2012 by Evan Koepfler KCNA focused more attention on China this week, with a total of ten stories published. Compared to past weeks, this may seem like a moderate increase, but with the multitude of […]
Kim Song-nam and Jon Hui Jong: North Korea’s éminence grise for China?
With the publication of the most successful revised dissertation in recent memory, Patrick McEachern’s Inside the Red Box, institutionally-oriented analyses are back in vogue when it comes to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. However, the weight and activities of some personalities still matter very much more than others in the DPRK, and Nicolas Levi’s […]
Evaluation of the Development Plan for Hwanggumpyong Island and Wihwa Island
It would now be hard to find a single serious analyst who believes that Chinese aid is not central to keeping the DPRK afloat. But despite the huge influx of Chinese capital into North Korea, many Chinese investors continue to harbor serious doubts about the reliability of investments in North Korea. In this essay, Alan […]
China-North Korea Dossier No. 2: “China’s ‘Measure of Reserve’ toward Succession”
North Korean resentment of China has multiple origins, but the PRC’s refusal to immediately accept Kim Jong-il as heir is surely one. New CIA documents tell the story.
