As of April 2022, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) has become more aggressive in all areas, including ideology, economy, foreign policy, and nuclear strategy. As President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is inaugurated next week, he faces serious challenges in navigating inter-Korean and U.S.-DPRK relations under these conditions while avoiding both overreaction and passivity to get denuclearization back on the table. In this commentary, Won Gon Park, Professor at Ewha Womans University, evaluates the Moon and Biden administration’s North Korea Policy and provides policy recommendations for the Yoon administration.

Kim Yo-jong has risen as a key figure in North Korean leadership as Chairman Kim Jong-un’s strategic partner over the recent years. In this Research Review, Helene Kim, Visiting Researcher at the Reunification Institute of Ewha Womans University, analyzes Kim Yo-jong’s leadership through motive imagery analysis. The author claims that Kim Yo-jong manifests strong “power motive imagery” in a centralized environment through the bold words, actions, and swiftness reflected in her statements on the U.S. While her leadership may be synergetic when combined with Kim Jong-un’s leadership, the author writes that she will unlikely succeed politically if she were an independent political leader as literature on motive imagery analysis explains that leadership styles heavily manifest of “power motive imagery” are bound to fail in a structure where authority is concentrated.