Featured Essays
COVID-19 in North Korea: A Mirror into the Soul of the South
An outbreak of COVID-19 in North Korea may, indeed, become the ending point of greater cooperation between the two Koreas for the time being, but the two Koreas were arguably never really that close in the first place. Robert Lauler explains.
Change and Continuity in North Korean Foreign Policy at the Dawn of the Millennium
Sino-NK’s Yujin Lim bridges the language barrier to provide insight into the view from Seoul over North Korean foreign policy at the turn of the millennium.
Six Hours to Midnight: GSOMIA and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy
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.
Live from Korea, live from anywhere: a review of “K-pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance”
Musician and scholar Wonseok Lee, in his debut publication for Sino-NK, offers a review of Suk-young Kim’s “K-Pop Live: Fans, Idols and Media Performance”.
Understanding North Korea: Foreign Relations of North Korea in 2000
In this translation from the original Korean, analyst Yujin Lim offers a glimpse of how Seoul perceived Pyongyang’s program of diplomatic outreach in the year 2000, offering observers a chance to peer into the origins of contemporary North Korean foreign policy.
Yongusil 98: Moscow and the Dilemma of Regional Development versus North Korea Sanctions
Russia’s North Korea policy involves a trade-off: refusal to support UN sanctions hurts Russia internationally, but supporting sanctions damages growth prospects in the country’s easternmost regions. Anthony Rinna covers this dilemma in Asian Studies International Review.
55 Remnants of Conflict: The Korean War Prisoners Who Chose Brazil
At the end of the Korean War, 88 North Korean and Chinese POWs decided to gamble on lives in third countries, eschewing South Korea and Taiwan. 55 were resettled in Brazil. These are their stories.
Law, Order, and Heroin in Dandong
The border city of Dandong maintains an important position for the Chinese Communist Party in its relations with the Kim Jong-un regime. Adam Cathcart investigates the latest sources.
Minority Affairs in the Xi Jinping Era: Hardened Cadre on the Periphery
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.
The ROK-US Alliance and Great Power Tensions
Anthony Rinna looks at the future for Seoul in a challenging century: reliant on China for its economic wellbeing and the US for its security, the DPRK may end up being the least of its problems.
Small but Indispensable: South Korea as “Jungjaeja”
Does South Korea have much room to manoeuvre in the aftermath of the failed Hanoi talks? Yujin Lim looks at the small power as mediator.
The Mango Mousse Incident: the Flexible Nature of the Dokdo/Takeshima Conflict in Inter-Korean Engagements
Dokdo is a returning theme in North-South Korea relations, one that reveals the long-standing dance of attraction and repulsion between the two Koreas. In a new essay for Sino-NK, Ifang Bremer looks at the evidence.
Russia and Korean Security: The Views from Seoul and Tokyo
Anthony Rinna looks at how Seoul and Tokyo have been dealing with Russia in a world of neo-Cold War tensions between Moscow and Washington.
North Korea’s Nuclear State Status: Seeking Legitimacy in the International Community
Leeds University PhD student Yujin Lim, previously of the Brussels-based European Institute for Asian Studies, describes some of the deterrence theory and IR apparatus around North Korea’s quest for nuclear legitimacy.
By whose example? Analyzing Sino-DPRK Media Portrayals of Relations in 2018
Oxford University’s Tom Fowdy sums up the year of Chinese-North Korean diplomacy, finding self-interest galore amid the statements of eternal brotherhood.
