Author Archive

Charismatic Politics: Kim Jong-suk’s Supporting Cast of Female Fighters

By | August 25, 2015

Following in the footsteps of Kim Jong-suk and the rest of North Korea’s revolutionary pantheon was a group of hitherto nameless fighters. With Women of Korea in hand, Robert Winstanley-Chesters inscribes the stories of their lives and extraordinary deaths.

Returning to the Courtyard: Rescaling Charismatic Landscapes in North Korea

By | July 27, 2015

Robert Winstanley-Chesters considers how human and critical geographies can be used as vectors for analysis of the viability of North Korea’s political landscapes.

Cultures of Critique: Kim Jong-un on North Korean Deforestation

By | June 08, 2015

Kim Jong-un’s recent rhetoric lamented the deforestation of the North Korean landscape; Sino-NK assesses the challenges and possibilities for innovation.

The Legendary Women of Baekdu: “And did those feet in ancient times…”

By | May 07, 2015

Robert Winstanley-Chesters concludes his essay series focused on the crossings, journeys and deterritorializations of elements of charismatic Kimism, arriving finally on the slopes of Baekdu with Kim Jong-suk.

Yongusil 67: Footprints of the Dead and the Utility of Returns: Recent Works from the KEI Academic Paper Series

By | April 23, 2015

This Yongusil recounts the footsteps of Sino-NK contributors into Washington, DC, and the august academic paper and seminar series of the Korean Economic Institute.

Yongusil 66: Suzy Kim, Cross-Currents and the (De)Memorialization of the Memorial

By | April 22, 2015

Suzy Kim, author of Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, has guest edited a special edition of Cross-Currents, an open access journal at University of California, Berkeley, engaging in a deep examination of ill-remembered and heavily contested moments of modern Korean history.

The Crossings and Encounters of Kim Jong-suk: “And did those feet in ancient times…”

By | April 09, 2015

The second piece in a three-part series, Robert Winstanley-Chesters looks in detail at the de- and reterritorialization of charismatic authority in the story of Kim Jong-suk, the so-called “Mother of Military-first Chosun.”

Yongusil 65: Adam Cathcart on the Footprints of Legitimacy

By | April 07, 2015

Pyongyang’s narrative response to the ascension of Kim Jong-un has drawn deep and heavy upon the past, indicating a certain conservatism and “ideological retrenchment,” argues Adam Cathcart in a SOAS-AKS Working Paper in Korean Studies. Director of Research, Robert Winstanley-Chesters, reviews the paper.