Cultural Relations
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 […]
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