Cultural Relations
Reading North Korean “Reform” in Shenyang: Reportage
What does the Chinese-North Korean relationship look like from the industrial hub of Shenyang? SinoNK’s correspondent tenders conclusions.
Reviewing “The Flower Girl”: DPRK Sea of Blood Opera Troupe on Tour in China (2)
Landlords, class identity, and the wounding capabilities of wealth: Analzying a North Korean opera performance in China.
Reviewing “The Flower Girl”: DPRK Sea of Blood Opera Troupe on Tour in China
Wither Kim Jong-il’s cultural influence in North Korea? Adam Cathcart reviews a performance of North Korean opera in Sichuan.
See You in Rio: A Final Look at Team North Korea during the London Olympics
Ben Young went from Yanji to Pyongyang during the Olympic Games, and arrives with a final assessment.
Access to Propaganda: On The Associated Press Deal with North Korea
The Associated Press (AP), one of the world’s most respected sources for breaking news, is banking on making the deal of the century. Steven Denney analyzes the AP’s deal in Pyongyang, with Edgar Snow in China as a counterfoil.
Let Them Eat Concerts, II: Musical Diplomacy, the Ri Sol-ju Rollout, and Kim Ki-Nam
Analysis of the Moranbong Band as an instrument of DPRK cultural diplomacy, interaction with “First Lady” Ri Sol-ju, and the geriatrics of the Politburo.
China’s “Soft Power” Goes Global: Li Keqiang, S.B. Cohen, and North Korea
China’s “Soft Power” Goes Global: Li Keqiang, S.B. Cohen, and North Korea by Adam Cathcart Much attention has been paid, and rightly so, to the “Korea wave” (韩流) and its impacts on North Korean culture. But what about China’s efforts at “soft power” expansion? How, if at all, are these perceived in the DPRK? And […]
Upstaging Dystopia: Adam Johnson and Suk-Young Kim on North Korea’s Performance Culture
Along with some fine displays of military bravura and a notable speech by the new North Korean leader-commissar (before he retired to enjoy a smoke), April was a month during which foreigners shone their bright talents as entertainers for the Pyongyang elite. Now those musicians and jugglers and PLA singers (no true jesters were allowed, […]
Kim Jong Suk and the Search for a Usable Past
Kim Jong Suk and the Search for a Usable Past by Adam Cathcart In a long and bruising essay published last month, the historian Benjamin Korn rendered a fascinating verdict on countries that would look away from the awful truth of their collective past: To look away is a kingly art. Louis the Fourteenth mastered […]
Jersey on the Taedong: Pedagogical Resources for Robert Egan’s “Eating with the Enemy”
Jersey on the Taedong: Pedagogical Resources for Robert Egan’s “Eating with the Enemy” by Adam Cathcart As apparently noxious as US-North Korea relations are at present, it is worth noting that efforts for cultural exchange never stopped in 2012 and may be primed to expand [1]. An American men’s chorus performed at the far-reaching April […]
North Korea’s Cha-Cha Dance with the U.S.A
Jimin Lee is the SinoNK.com Analyst for Performing Arts. While Lee has already looked at North Korea’s cultural diplomacy with China and France, today Lee’s gaze turns toward a perennial enemy of the DPRK, the United States. – Charles Kraus, Managing Editor North Korea’s Cha-Cha Dance with the U.S.A by Jimin Lee The Washington Post […]
