Seunghee Ha, a research professor at the Institute of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, analyzes the DPRK regime's three "evil laws" that aim to suppress foreign cultural influence, especially from South Korea, through strict penalties targeting media consumption, language use, and behaviors tied to South Korean culture. Ha emphasizes that the North Korean residents are increasingly circumventing these restrictions, fostering a discreet subculture that undermines state authority. She highlights the regime's paradoxical approach of introducing technology while attempting to control it...

Commentary

• Seunghee HA
• November 06, 2024

Hyeong Jung Park, a visiting research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, examines North Korea's policy toward South Korea under Kim Jong Un, linking it to the legacies of Kim Jong Il’s regime. While Kim Jong Il advanced nuclear and missile capabilities, it was not until Kim Jong Un's rise of power that North Korea began adopting increasingly hardline policies, including internal purges to eliminate elites loyal to his father’s strategies, strengthened top-down party control, and heightened hostility toward South Korea. With North Korea now characterizing inter-Korean r...

Commentary

• Hyeong Jung PARK
• October 23, 2024

Ho Ryung Lee, Director of the Center for Security and Strategy at KIDA, explains that North Korea’s recent military actions are aimed at delineating the inter-Korean border, rather than introducing territorial amendments or removing “unification” from the constitution. Lee assesses that such decision is an effort to reinforce the border while aligning with the Party's pursuit of strong national defense. Noting that Kim Jong Un's claim of a potential destruction of the "balance of strategic power" is based on his misjudgment that such balance is measurable, she argues that the credibility...

Commentary

• Ho Ryung LEE
• October 22, 2024