Author Archive
Hopefully More than an Inch: Weekly Digest
If it has yet to be done, April should be commemorated as international missile test month for the year 2012. A couple of days before and just a few more after Kim Jong Un’s speech (full English text) to the people of the DPRK during his grandfather’s centennial celebration, three states, two nuclear, test-fired missiles […]
Un Ha 3, We Barely Knew Ye: KCNA File No. 15
Click here to view the KCNA-China File No 15 -Mar 18-March 24 in its entirety In response to the seemingly endless slavos of news reports, scattered op-eds (see Jennifer Lind or Choe Sang Hun, for two good examples) and even SinoNK’s own analysis regarding the recent (failed) satellite missile launch, readers may be left wondering: what more could possibly […]
China’s Pragmatic Approach to the North Korean Problem: Andrei Lankov on What China Wants
For North Korea watchers and close followers of China’s ties to North Korea, the existence of a “special relationship” between Pyongyang and Beijing practically goes without saying. After all, with the possible exception of Pakistan (more here and here and here), North Korea is the only country with whom China has signed a formal alliance […]
Spotlight on Kim Myung-chol: KCNA File No. 14
Click here to view KNCA File No. 14 (March 14 – March 17) in its entirety. Feeling the need to brush up on some Juche or Songun philosophy? The North American Juche-Songun Ideas Study Group provides material that may be of use at their WordPress blog, operative since March 2012. Of course, actually joining the group, […]
Acuto, Strategic Distrust and the Pivot: Weekly Digest
When it comes to North Korea and Northeast Asian security issues, analysis spilling from the pens of Western academics tends to focus on American decision makers and United States grand strategy in the region. In this weekly digest installment, SinoNK focuses on three recent publications that deal with, in in some form or another, a […]
The Ideational Balance of Power: KCNA File No. 13
Click here to view KNCA File No. 13 (March 4 – March 10) in its entirety. Although Americans may be emphasizing values and the importance of ideational issues in an era of declining American power following two costly wars and an economic crisis, KCNA File No. 13 reminds our readers from North America and Europe that the ideational […]
Options Abound: Weekly Digest
The big news around Seoul this week was the arrival of Barack Obama for the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, his visit to the DMZ (predicted several weeks ago on One Free Korea) and the flurry of stories related to North Korea’s planned rocket launch. Given reports of US intentions to “overhaul its approach towards North […]
Pyongyang’s Take on the Beijing Model of Development: KCNA Files No. 11 and 12
Click here to view KNCA File No. 11 (Feb 19 – Feb 25) in its entirety. Click here to view KCNA File No. 12 (Feb 26 – March 3) in its entirety. Does Africa need a Marshall Plan? Western analysts nod in agreement. Developmental economists argue that significant investment in African business and infrastructure is necessary to get Africa on […]
Nothing Flying But a Satellite: Weekly Digest
No sooner had the “first step” been taken towards substantive nuclear talks (and implicitly towards re-starting the stalled Six Party Talks), than North Korea seems to have lost its footing and slipped up, putting in jeopardy the February 29th “Leap Day” agreement, including 240,000 metric tons of aid, by announcing its intention to launch a […]
