Author Archive

Translation in Isolation: The Rare, the Bad, and the Weird

By | July 06, 2017

In his third installation of a multipart series, Martin Weiser returns to the question of translation. By tracing the process by which translations come into being, he highlights the limitations and bottlenecks that are created by the need to translate into multiple languages on a daily basis.

Unstable Rhetoric: Few Additions, Some Changes, Lots of Omissions

By | February 23, 2017

In the second piece in his series on reading the North Korean media, Martin Weiser looks at the unstable nature of North Korean published rhetoric, which has a tendency to change across formats, and the ways in which this impacts upon reading and interpretation.

On Reading North Korean Media: The Curse of the Web

By | October 31, 2016

In the first of a series based on evidence from more than two years spent mapping North Korean online media, Martin Weiser highlights patterns in how North Korean organizations operate and how human error and unchecked individual inputs can shape what we come to read.

Chests Full of Brass: A DPRK Political History in Orders, Medals, Prizes, and Titles

By | January 08, 2016

The DPRK state structure can be hard to discern from the outside, but it is possible to structure analysis so as to dissipate the fog somewhat. Here, Martin Weiser wields the state system of awards and medals to shed light on national history.

Voices from the Black Box: 1987, the Social Democratic Party, and Protection of Human Rights

By | September 14, 2015

The DPRK human rights discourse is dominated by the many victims of Kimist state power. Whether for better or worse, this certainly leaves limited space for other perspectives to be aired. Here, Martin Weiser outlines evidence of a domestic debate surrounding human rights protection dating back to the late 1980s.