Sino-DPRK Relations

The Passing of Kim Jong-il: North Korea Still Mired in “Charismatic Politics”

By | December 17, 2012

Charisma is hard to obtain and harder to retain. It is also ephemeral. Kim Jong-un wants it, has some, but needs more. Roger Cavazos starts watching the sky in the first of our anniversary extravaganza.

Don’t Fear the Tiger: Huanqiu Shibao, Chinese Delegations, and Netizen Responses to the North Korean Rocket

By | December 07, 2012

China’s state media is urging calm as regards the North Korean rocket launch — or is it? Analysis/translation by Adam Cathcart and Roger Cavazos.

“In Any Authoritarian Country:” Subversive Chinese Readings of Kim Jong-un’s Purges

By | November 29, 2012

While the foreign media was possessed by a transitory joke involving The Onion, a bruising Chinese editorial appeared about the purge of General Ri Yong-ho. Adam Cathcart and Roger Cavazos translate and analyze.

Technological Triptych: Scott Bruce on DPRK Digitization

By | November 25, 2012

Opening up, or consolidating control? Roger Cavazos looks into the latest scholarship regarding North Korean telecommunications technology.

Kim Jong Un’s Gallant Rescue of Chinese Miners, and Other Tales: KCNA-China File No. 22

By | November 20, 2012

North Korean state media tries to smooth over recent controversies with a “Hail Mary” approach to Chinese mining firms. Analysis by Cathcart/Cavazos and SinoNK in Chengdu.