Cultural Relations

Conflicting Signals on the Refugee Issue, and a KCNA-Xinhua Pastiche

By | February 27, 2012

While the refugee issue metasizes in Seoul and curiously grows on the Chinese internet, life continues its rhythms in Pyongyang, and in the hallways of state media. — Editor Conflicting Signals on the Refugee Issue, and a KCNA-Xinhua Pastiche by Adam Cathcart – There were some very strong hints following Li Keqiang’s visit to both […]

Blockages and Breakthroughs: Cultural Diplomacy and North Korea

By | February 23, 2012

Yesterday, Corée_Actualités launched a short missive which functioned as a kind of bouleversement of the normal: a 90-member delegation of the DPRK’s Unhasu Orchestra (consisting of 70 players) will be performing at the Salle Pleyel in Paris this coming March 21.  The French Radio Symphony Orchestra (l’Orchestre de Radio France) will be playing alongside Unhasu, under the direction of […]

North Korea’s Troll Army? The Sinophone Internet Debate Over Kim Jong Un’s On-Site Inspection

By | January 22, 2012

In the endeavor to follow news coming out of Pyongyang since January 1, it has been occasionally difficult to follow Chinese news threads about Kim Jong Un.  Something suprising appears to be happening on the Chinese internet in the Kim Jong Un era, at least on the Huanqiu Shibao/Global Times comment boards, which, associated with […]

Ambassador Liu Reappears, or, Why Opera Matters

By | January 13, 2012

It is a working assumption here at Sino-NK that the Chinese Embassy has been decidedly on “the outs” with the North Korean leadership in the immediate aftermath of Kim Jong Il’s death.  The strife over the mysterious deaths of seven Chinese businessmen/tourists in late November 2011, along with the Embassy’s public implication that Kim’s death […]

Poetry from Pyongyang // 平壤诗歌

By | January 12, 2012

Rodong Sinmun yesterday carried a number of foreign language items, as well as a plug (in Korean) for foreign language education in the DPRK.  A positive sign? At the very least, an opportunity for two English-language students at Kim Il Sung University to get an important translation on their respective resumes of a collectively-composed poem, […]