Featured Essays
Understanding South Korean Conservativism and Yoon’s Martial Law Declaration
Where does South Korea’s conservative People Power Party fit within comparative typologies, and how do we interpret Yoon’s martial law decree? This explainer addresses both questions.
Telegraphing Conflict in the Taiwan Strait: Lessons from Mao Zedong
This essay looks at Taiwan from the vantage point of PRC leadership circa 1951, considering the connection between coastal defenses, counter-revolutionary suppression, and public sentiment.
Calling Kim After Midnight: Putin in Pyongyang
What is behind the Russia-North Korea summit in Pyongyang? Anthony Rinna returns to Sino-NK with an overarching analysis.
The Dandong Chess Board: Trade, Anti-Corruption, and Russian Visitors
What are the ambitions of Chinese Communist Party cadre in Dandong in opening up further to North Korea and Russia? And a local anti-corruption update.
North Korea’s Leap Forward in Air Defense Modernization
This article analyzes the evolution of North Korea’s air defense capabilities since 2017, focusing on recent advancements and their geopolitical implications.
China’s Ground Game in Dandong and North Korea
As Sino-North Korean bilateral relations intensify, Adam Cathcart looks at China’s ground game in Pyongyang and Dandong, with a focus on business.
The Rhetorical Politics of Ending the Korean War: Eisenhower, Dulles and Mao’s China
In this essay, Rory de Mellow examines the reconceptualisation of US foreign policy during and after the Korean War.
Staring into the “Fog” of North Korea Reporting: Pyongyang’s January Lockdown
Sino-NK likes to look behind the scenes to the nuts and bolts of North Korea news-gathering. In this essay, Daily NK staffer Robert Lauler examines the details of a recent case: the Pyongyang lockdown.
Free to be Controlled: Press and Protest under Park Chung-hee
A review of two recent works examining the role of the media and the development of protest culture in South Korea during the Park regime.
Russia’s Iskander Ballistic Missile System Has Long Worried NATO: Its North Korean Cousin is Much More Dangerous
Analysis of a new North Korean weapon that bears a striking resemblance to Russia’s Iskander missile.
Katchi Kapshida, Comrades: Donetsk Leader Reacts to North Korea’s Support
A leader of a separatist Ukrainian republic annexed by Russia hails North Korea’s support as a sign of a revised international order.
Aura of Criminality: Perspectives of Empire in Japan’s East Asian Conquests, 1932-1945
In the second part of this series, Jessica Pitcher examines the relationship between Japanese imperial authorities in China and the practice of narcotics trafficking, which “weakened” the inhabitants of the occupied territories while filling government coffers in Manchukuo.
Telegraphing Conflict in the Taiwan Strait: South Korea and the Xi Jinping Factor
In light of the war in Ukraine, Sino-NK rounds up a range of academic papers, reports, and think pieces on Xi Jinping and Taiwan, with special interest in South Korean perspectives.
Discovering Patriotic History near China’s Korean Border
What happens when the CCP locates debris from the World War II era in China’s northeastern border region? Patriotic education and reflections on a useable past.
Narcotics, Smuggling and Sex: Perspectives of Empire in Japan’s East Asian Conquests, 1932-1945, Part One
Empires are often described in grand and abstract terms, but they are also an everyday phenomenon, where the authority of the colonizing state is impressed upon its subjects in myriad ways. Here, Jessica Pitcher examines the role of sex trafficking in the everyday conception of the Japanese empire in Korea.
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