Featured Essays
Symbol and Substance: China’s Scramble for Influence in the Korean Peace Process
Chinese pressure on North Korea during 2017 served to accelerate declining relations between the two. Now, with peace ostensibly looming, China wants to reverse course. Tom Fowdy looks at the challenges faced.
The Road to Pyongyang II: Inter-Korean Summits and North Korean Media
In the second part of a series on Pyongyang’s domestic media coverage, Kyle Pope examines the portrayal of the chief actors involved in the high politics of summits: the leaders of the two Koreas.
Righter Than You Think: National Security Conservatism and Moon Jae-in
Moon Jae-in’s policy toward the North is not the Sunshine Policy of his progressive forebears. Indeed, South Korean political culture leans conservative, especially regarding national security. Steven Denney and Christopher Green make the case.
The Road to Pyongyang: Inter-Korean Summits and North Korean Media
How were previous inter-Korean summits covered by North Korean media? In part one of a two-part series, Kyle Pope digs into material at the Ministry of Unification’s North Korea Documents Center for answers.
A Complicated Story: Why the United States Needs A North Korea Roadmap
If you are going on a long journey, you should pack a map. Then, why would the US enter into a diplomatic process with North Korea without any discernible strategic outline of how it will get to its goals? Mintaro Oba calls for a Korean peninsula roadmap.
Korean Reunification: Unlikely Despite Olympic Thaw
A lecturer in Finance and Economics at Dongbei University, Tom Eck is skeptical about the inter-Korean thaw of early 2018 for several reasons. Drawing on the German example and public opinion data from the 2017 Unification Perception Survey, he explains why.
North and South Korea Are Talking: Keep Expectations Low
It should have surprised nobody that Pyongyang would seek to capitalize on South Korea’s desire to host a positive, peaceful and perhaps even profitable Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang next month. But how does the South Korean public feel about it?
Moon’s Hedging Strategy: Foreign Policy in South Korea
Squeezed between Pyongyang’s nuclear trajectory, Trump and Abe’s enthusiastic pursuit of “maximum pressure,” and THAAD-induced bilateral stress emanating from Beijing, Moon Jae-in is attempting to protect not only the interests of the Republic of Korea, but also its place in the world.
The Short Arm of the Law: Sanctions and North Korean Laborers in Russia
Anthony Rinna examines the stark reality that it is not clear who is available to replace exports of North Korean labor in Russia, making it hard to imagine the Russian government weaning itself off them.
Right of Reply: Kim Jong-un’s Rejoinder to American Threats at the UN General Assembly
Pushing back against an over-reliance on personalist explanations for international conflict, Adam Cathcart retreats into history and some speculation.
Lumps of Coal: How China’s Demand for Russia’s Natural Resources Affects North Korea Sanctions Enforcement
Anthony Rinna investigates the Russian role in the DPRK sanctions system, focusing on the country’s potential to export high-quality coal to China as a replacement for the DPRK.
Policy Distortions: How the American Right Frames Donald Trump’s Policy on North Korea
Sam Swash looks at how the North Korean population is conditioned to read for conspiracies that may or may not be there. In the process he reminds us that we may be just as much if not more open to misinformation that shows their leadership to be infallible.
Memos from Pyongyang: A North Korean Perspective on the Otto Warmbier Case
Adam Cathcart does some further thinking around the death of Otto Warmbier, but with an underutilized angle; seeking clarity not on what Warmbier’s passing means for us, but on what it means in Pyongyang.
The Russian Sanctions Policy: Reflecting the Long View
It makes little sense for Russia to divest itself of economic ties to the northern half of Korea at the request of the United States. What Putin and his government fear is that new sanctions will cut Russia off from having a presence in a reunified Korea. Anthony Rinna looks at Russia’s long game.
The Past and Present of North Korean Belligerence: Rangoon 1983
The Rangoon Bombing of 1983 remains a piece of hidden history, only to be fully illuminated when the division of the two Koreas comes to an end. In the meantime, the archives of the ROK government give evidence of what motivated the attack. Let Eungseo Kim look back and be your guide.
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North Korean Human Rights in the State of the Union
Leif-Eric Easley | January 31, 2018 -
What Inspired DPRK Invective against China?
Adam Cathcart | December 19, 2017 -
Chinese Discourse on the New North Korea Sanctions
Adam Cathcart | September 12, 2017
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Onward Migration: Why Do North Korean Migrants Leave South Korea?
Jay Song | February 26, 2018 -
Yongusil 93: Socialism’s Influence on Syngman Rhee and the Founding of the Republic
David Fields | August 5, 2017 -
Yongusil 92: A New Perspective on the Evolution of South Korea’s Developmental State
Jong-sung You | June 12, 2017
