Essays

Mirage of Peace: Trump, China, and Kim Jong-un

By | May 30, 2022

As the Biden administration mulls its approach to North Korea, we reconsider the Trump era “maximum pressure” policy within the context of Sino-North Korean relations.

North Korea and Coronavirus: International Relations and Local Data from Dandong

By | September 21, 2021

Adam Cathcart reads some local public health data point from Dandong, and in the process surveys the vaccination landscape faced by a highly reluctant North Korea.

The Manchurian Myth: History and Power in North Korea

By and | June 17, 2020

As the smoke clears from Kaesong and succession talk swirls around Kim Yo-jong, Sino-NK revisits one of the key foundations of North Korean history education.

Six Hours to Midnight: GSOMIA and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy

By | November 25, 2019

South Korea’s narrowly-avoided decision to terminate GSOMIA underscores how the ROK’s defense priorities in Northeast Asia affect the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy as a whole.

Minority Affairs in the Xi Jinping Era: Hardened Cadre on the Periphery

By | March 18, 2019

What does the increasingly harsh tone of Chinese Communist Party’s policy toward ethnic minorities mean for Koreans in the northeast? Adam Cathcart looks at officials and the new Xi environment.