DPRK Foreign Relations

Peacemaker or Political Hostage? Prospects for the Moscow-Busan “Iron Silk Road Express”

By | November 11, 2013

The promise of profit and increased political stability in Northeast Asia are attractive to Moscow and Seoul, but do the potential benefits of the “Iron Silk Road Express” outweigh the risks that come with investing in North Korea? Sabine van Ameijden evaluates.

Forget about the “Trustpolitik,” Let’s Talk Won

By | November 07, 2013

Trust can come in many forms, but in Korea there is a serious lack of it. According to Professor Jin Jingyi of Peking University, the key is to transit away from futile attempts to foster political trust, and onto an “economics-first,” or “trusteconomik” if you prefer, approach. Steven Denney explains.

“Unification Aesthetics:” A Review of Lee Si-Woo’s Life on the Edge of the DMZ

By | November 06, 2013

Can the desolation of the North-South border region be understood as a “huge canvas for a meditation on life itself?” Adam Cathcart explores the relationship between the human condition and the peninsula-as-environment in this review of Lee Si-Woo’s Life on the Edge of the DMZ.

Diplomatic Churning between Berlin and Pyongyang

By | October 18, 2013

The German government returns an Ambassador to Pyongyang with interests in cross-border trade in Sinuiju, North Korean succession issues, and “the liberal ’80s” in Beijing.

A Roundtable Review of Charles Armstrong’s Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992 (updated)

By | October 03, 2013

What does Sino-NK think about the history of the DPRK? Collect a myriad of opinions and perspectives in Sino-NK’s roundtable review of Charles Armstrong’s latest book, Tryanny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992. Introduction by Benjamin R. Young.