Is the day coming when the world admits North Korea has won?
Some years ago, after briefing South Korean lawmakers on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, a South Korean defense expert, liaising with the Americans on the issue,...
The long arm of Pyongyang: Secret police use family ties to hunt defectors
North Korea’s feared secret police is using brokers who funnel money from defectors to their families in the impoverished country to recruit them and persuade...
Kim Jong-un’s diplomacy aims to strengthen ties with Russia and China, rather than play them off one another
Top Chinese official Wang Huning visited Pyongyang last week, indicating that the restoration of North Korea–China relations is moving forward. Wang, a member of the...
Can technology safely connect North Koreans to the outside world?
In North Korea, information is not a public good to be managed. It is a threat to be contained. By restricting access to the internet,...
North Korea calls China a ‘brother.’ So why does it erase China from history?
A few days ago, as I watched television images of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang, I was struck by a familiar dissonance. The...
Kim inspects a new station for “tourists” that locals won’t be able to use.
When Kim Jong-un inspected a new station on the country’s east coast last month, his visit highlighted a strange feature of North Korea. That is...
Pyongyang’s lights are North Korea’s greatest lie
To outsiders, North Korea seems to be changing and for the better. More cars fill the streets. Young people carry smartphones. New apartment buildings glow...
New destroyer signals North Korea’s push for a nuclear navy
North Korea commissioned a new multipurpose destroyer on June 23 at Nampho Port, according to the state-run KCNA news agency. The Choe Hyon, named after...
North Korea tests new weaponry for use against South Korea
On June 25 - the day his grandfather invaded South Korea in 1950 to start the Korean War - Kim Jong-un attended an “important weapons...