Does ousted finance minister face execution?
When Kim Jong-un replaced his finance minister at the end of last month, flagging “obstacles to economic development,” the rumor mill went into top gear....
Kim Jong-un new leadership style is just a cosmetic change
During a visit to a modern defense industry factory on July 2, Kim Jong-un behaved in a way that was a departure from the usual...
Kim Jong-un the Apple maniac
Like many people, I was captivated by Steve Jobs when he famously said during his 2005 Stanford University commencement speech, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” I...
Will wheat solve the food problem?
Kim Jong-un is trying to shift food production over from corn over to rice, wheat, and barley, and the party’s daily rodong sinmun is reporting,...
Buying time to earn money
Suppression comes in many forms. There is suppression of association, suppression of travel, and suppression of speech. But of these, the most pervasive form of...
It’s better to be a hammer or sickle than a brush
The ruling Workers' Party emblem of North Korea is different from other communist parties in that it includes a brush alongside the hammer and sickle...
How media undermines truth-seeking
Having grown up in North Korea where the media is so uniformly one-sided that we hesitate to call the stories in them “news,” I was...
Singing of our friendly parent
Friendly Parent. This is the title of that new song in North Korea that is going viral. How warm and familiar they are, those words,...
Defectors and the search for happiness
"Are you happy? Is life in South Korea more satisfying than in North Korea?" Ninety percent of the people I meet for the first time...
Why there is no Parents’ Day in North Korea
Wednesday is eobeoi (parents) day in South Korea, where it is a national holiday. Established on May 8, 1973, it is a time for people...
Change in North Korea as Kim Jong-un remodels Fortress Juche
The colossal ideological fortress of Juche has stood firm for a long time as the cornerstone of North Korea's pursuit of revolution and defense against...
Forced repatriation: Accountability
The last of our four-part series on the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors in China. For parts one, two, and three, see here, here...
By honoring defectors is South Korea unintentionally erecting a barrier to integration?
When I started English lessons again when I was 20, the first topic in the textbook was St. Patrick's Day in America. This celebration of...