Kimism’s Great Christmas Power Grab
When the Kim regime arrested, tried and swiftly executed Jang Sung-taek in December 2013, it was implementing the ancient maxim about the relative power of regents and monarchs, and following the ruthless logic of autocracy everywhere. Machiavelli would not have been in the least bit surprised by the death, as Christopher Green investigates in another of his columns for Groove Korea.
Introducing #Shigak | #시각: Perspectives on South Korea
Sino-NK rolls out Shigak, a new data collection and information management effort on South Korea that seeks to connect particular domestic issues with broader geopolitical, economic, and political concerns. Edited by Steven Denney and Christopher Green.
Framing Epistemic Communities in North Korea: From Fungus to Botanical Gardens
North Korean developmental praxis relies on epistemic communities and research institutions to achieve its goals. The country’s institutions are not only meta-devices for rolling out in reportage to add a veneer of intellectual legitimacy to centralized dictat, as Robert Winstanley-Chesters reveals in the case of Pyongyang Botanical Gardens.
Introducing Tongsin | 통신
Introducing Tongsin | 통신: data and analysis of the North Korean state media reports on the subject of China. This debut issue examines the North Korean emphasis on an independent and growing DPRK economy in the months preceding the Jang Song-taek purge.
End of an Era of Huge Profits: Mainland Businessmen Talk Sino-DPRK Border Trade
As interlocutors from both sides of the Sino-North Korea borderland trade attempt to find new footing, Chinese views of the business environment in the DPRK are more important than ever. Matthew Bates and Adam Cathcart translate, with photos from Mr. Bates.





