When will the Koreas be reunited?
Whenever South Koreans meet someone from North Korea, there is one question they seem to ask, almost as if they had agreed on it beforehand:...
Two North Korean prisoners, one diplomatic dispute: What was agreed between Seoul and Kyiv?
The transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war from Ukraine to South Korea was supposed to be a humanitarian success. Instead, it has turned...
Under the same full moon, two versions of the same holiday
South Korea’s roads were already growing crowded ahead of the traditional Chuseok harvest festival holiday. Traffic worry is an integral feature of the three-day holiday...
North Korea is building new weapons and drones. Russia may be making them better
KCNA reported on Sept. 19 that Kim Jong-un had spent Sept. 16–18 inspecting major defense-industrial enterprises, where he reviewed weapons production and called for greater...
Resolute, denuclearization, blah blah…. North Korea has heard this before
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of either NK...
The freedom to ask: Where should we go today?
When I was a child in North Korea, I once wanted to visit my uncle. It sounds like an ordinary thing for a child to...
North Korea drops ‘unification’ from party charter, boosts Kim Jong-un’s power
North Korea has removed references to “peaceful reunification,” “great national unity” and “South Korea” from the governing charter of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea...
North Korea subjects women to strip searches at border, sources say
North Korean authorities are reportedly forcing women leaving the country to remove all their clothing and, in some cases, submit to intimate searches in an...
Man jailed for spying on defectors and soldiers for North Korean agent
A South Korean cryptocurrency investment company operator has been sentenced to five years in prison for collecting information on North Korean defectors, activists and active-duty...
Is the Kim family still Big Brother?
In every home in North Korea, portraits of the Kim family hang on the wall. Even while they were alive, they inspired fear and awe...
Is Trump about to try to solve the Korea question?
Eighteen months into his second term – after tariffs, serious arguments with America’s closest allies, and interventions in Nicaragua, Gaza and Iran – is U.S....
When the past became hope
Today, I came across an article with a photograph of Kim Jong-un smiling brightly. The moment I saw his face as he waved to the...
Trump wants Kim back at the table. This time, Kim holds the cards.
U.S. President Donald Trump wants to revive summit diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. American officials told The Wall Street Journal that Trump was...
Why is North Korea sending women to Russia?
I recently saw a report about an advertisement on an online marketplace offering to supply 40 North Korean female workers to a single workplace. According...
Border residents supplied with glass for windows to replace plastic sheeting
North Korean authorities are reportedly taking steps to improve the country’s appearance by supplying glass for the windows of houses facing China. Under the slogan...
In North Korea, a newspaper editorial is never just an editorial
Several years ago, when I worked at a state institution in Pyongyang, an order arrived from higher authorities to launch a new project. The goal...
Cryptocurrency can help North Korean defectors save their families
Every year, thousands of North Korean defectors resettled in South Korea send money home to families they may never see again. The transfer chain that...
Electricity, not slogans: What North Korean women really need
If reunification happens one day and I am able to meet my childhood friends again, what will their faces look like? A sorrowful question haunts...