Do recent changes presage an imminent wave of mass defections?
The arrival in South Korea of a senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba, which was confirmed earlier this month by Seoul’s intelligence agency, highlights...
North Koreans forced to attend war anniversary lectures
The Workers’ Party is forcing government and ordinary citizens to attend weekly lectures this month commemorating the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 to...
Are the upgraded Russia-North Korea ties just skin-deep?
Russia and North Korea last week upgraded their relationship from “friendly” to a strategic partnership with a mutual defense commitment that has prompted concerns about...
Excessive security annoys Putin aides and disturbs citizens in Pyongyang
Several senior Russian officials were undiplomatically expelled from a meeting room by North Korean security during last week’s visit to Pyongyang by Vladimir Putin, underscoring...
Kim Jong-un portrait appears on classroom walls in rebuilt party school
When Kim Jong-un participated in the opening ceremony of the new Central School of the Workers' Party of Korea, the event was conducted on a...
The consequences of loyalty and disloyalty in North Korea
Towards the end of his long career, Kim Ki-nam had good reason to worry about his future. As North Korea’s longtime propaganda chief, he had...
Kim Jong-un and the campaign of coerced adulation
Congratulations, your congratulatory message is on TV. In North Korea, where the leadership never seems to tire of being congratulated, there's a tradition of showcasing...
Defectors back ruling party this time in National Assembly elections
In the lead up to the parliamentary elections in South Korea on April 10, the campaigns of some North Korean defectors are gaining attention. These...
“Music Politics” Shows the Changing View of Women in North Korea
In recent years, the changing role of women in North Korean society, brought on by the famine of the 1990s, has become apparent through the...
Latest Study Guides for Ideological Indoctrination
The ruling Workers’ Party produced its annual Study Guide last month, which provides a rare window into political indoctrination and the devotion with which everyone from top officials to ordinary workers is expected to approach it.
Kim Jong Un Remains Engrossed in Self-Praise While His People Starve to Death
Following Kim Jong Un’s declaration in 2022 that North Korea is an “irreversible” nuclear weapons state, North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament met on September 26-27, 2023, and formally enshrined North Korea’s nuclear status in its constitution.