Collapse Scenarios
Buckling Down in Dandong
As Xi Jinping waxes poetic at the “One Belt, One Road” summit in Beijing, we investigate messy realities in the the Chinese border city that would be the ideal hub for any North Korean participation.
One Dystopian Korea: A Review of Our Aspiration is War by Jang Kang-myung
Sino-NK doesn’t review many novels, but that doesn’t mean fiction is irrelevant. Quite the opposite. Here, Robert Lauler reviews the latest book by “Because I Hate Korea” author Jang Kang-myung, in which he sketches out a disturbing, dystopian portrait of a future unified Korea.
Wang Haiyun and China’s North Korean Contingency Scenarios
An op-ed by a retired PLA General in Shanghai urges preparation for all-out war around Korea. What signals does this send? Also, reflections on Xi Jinping’s heavy hand and the North Korea discourse.
Yongusil 59: Like a Slow-Moving Aircraft Carrier: Victor Cha’s Outlook on China’s North Korea Foreign Policy
Victor Cha, author of The Impossible State, has been on the lecture circuit with new thoughts on North Korea’s collapse. Sherri Ter Molen caught up with him at the University of Chicago’s Paulson Institute.
Collapsist Narratives and State Strength: Reading The Interview through Han Sorya’s Jackals
Han Sorya’s conception of Americans as “jackals” is a wartime description of an enemy but one that never went away–in a sense like the war itself. In this essay, David Fields surveys the strength of North Korean state narratives, folding in a very famous Korean War short story and a certain controversial Hollywood film.
Over the Line: How Representative Was Yang Junfeng’s FT Article of Chinese Academic Opinion on North Korea?
Prompted by the 2013 dismissal of Deng Yuwen from his post at the Central Party School’s Study Times journal and the publication of an op-ed in the English-language Financial Times advocating China’s abandonment of North Korea, Sino-NK investigates how the Party responded and what ordinary academics really think about Sino-DPRK relations in China today.
Communist Normalcy: How Authoritarian Leaders Disappear and Return
Kim Jong-un has now made a handful of public appearances since ending his 40+ days out of the public eye, and it appears clear that the young leader’s health was a major cause of his absence. This came as no surprise to analyst Nick Miller.
How Long Will the Umbrellas Hold Out? Report from Hong Kong
Sino-NK’s Junior Fellow for 2013-2014, Byul Ryan-Im, reports from the barricades of Occupy Central.
A Pragmatic Approach to Collapsing the Regime: A Critique
In a June 16 op-ed in the New York Times, Sue Mi Terry promoted expediting the end of the North Korean regime. The piece energized analyst Michael Bassett to respond.
