Art and Performance

Yongusil 45: PRC Power Consolidation, the Korean War, and the “Cold Front” of Historical Research in Hong Kong

By | September 18, 2014

In a conference which took place on September 15-16 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, an array of new scholarship was presented which indicated the scope and depth of the Chinese Communist Party’s power consolidation during the Korean War. Sino-NK’s own Adam Cathcart presented his work alongside several up-and-coming students and established scholars.

Spaces of Leisure: A North Korean (Pre-) History

By | September 13, 2014

In the first of three essays, Robert Winstanley-Chesters analyzes the disconnect between North Korea’s revolutionary culture and the existence of consumption space, uncovering a pre-history of leisure and entertainment in North Korea.

Kim Ki-nam: North Korea’s Orchestral Politics

By | June 27, 2014

Octogenarian propaganda doyen Kim Ki-nam has survived at the top of North Korean politics for decades. Quite apart from all the perks that tend to accrue to such people, the other thing former Rodong Sinmun editor Kim has earned from his exertions is the attention of Adam Cathcart.

A Bifurcated Review of De-bordering Korea: Tangible and Intangible Legacies of the Sunshine Policy

By | May 12, 2014

Seven full years have passed since the second and final “sunshine policy” president, the late Roh Moo-hyun, left office. Yet debate over the historic value of the decade of sunshine persists. In Sino-NK’s latest review, two members of the team look at a brand new Routledge edited volume that attempts to assess the social legacy of the era.

Yongusil 33: The Sun, the Arrow, and Benjamin Joinau

By | May 07, 2014

Benjamin Joinau’s conceptual review of mythic and monolithic city spaces of Pyongyang produces an categorical twin. Rural charisma meets urban glory in a key work of psychogeographic imagination.