DPRK Foreign Relations

China’s “Soft Power” Goes Global: Li Keqiang, S.B. Cohen, and North Korea

By | May 15, 2012

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 […]

Stable Transition or Fumbling Majesty? : When Kim Jong Un Met the Chinese VP

By | May 14, 2012

SinoNK.com, in collaboration with NK Leadership Watch, is currently concluding a major investigation of North Korea’s relations with China in the last two months of Kim Jong Il’s life.  This process will culminate with the release of a substantial database and analysis, which we are including as third in a series of China-North Korea Dossiers. […]

“Hire a North Korean”: Chinese Economic Magazine

By | May 07, 2012

Not long ago in Foreign Policy, Marcus Noland laid into the notion of economic transparency with regard to North Korea.  Where are the facts?  And just what are the data points?  Fortunately, when looking at Chinese side of the equation, we are somewhat less empty-handed, and our frustration is often matched by relative satisfaction at […]

Anti-Rat Bombast and Rational Conference: Weekly Digest

By | May 05, 2012

Spring arrives, and with it, the season for demonstrations of all kinds — spontaneous, coordinated, repressed. Comrades in Zhongnanhai are hardly ignorant of the fact, but it is the North Korean leadership that has taken mobilization to new levels with the blossoming weather.  After all, there is no point in ending up like Syria.  Steven […]

Strategic Divergence: Different Countries, Differing Views

By | May 04, 2012

Although it may be too early to tell, it seems that a strategic divergence may be developing between Washington and Seoul as a result of domestic politics and frustration over failed diplomacy.  A nascent surge in populism in South Korean politics and indications of a hawkish shift in American foreign policy towards the peninsula suggest […]