Won Gon Park, Chair of EAI’s Center for North Korea Studies and Professor at Ewha Womans University, explores the potential for leadership collapse in North Korea under Kim Jong Un. He identifies three key challenges to regime stability: the expansion of marketization weakening state control, the erosion of ideological legitimacy among younger ge...

Sang Ki Kim, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, assesses that inter-Korean relations have reached their lowest point in 2025, largely due to DPRK’s “Two Hostile States” doctrine. Kim attributes the shift in DPRK’s ROK policy to several factors, including the perceived power imbalance between Seoul and Pyongya...

Won Gon Park, Chair of the EAI North Korea Studies Center, forecasts Pyongyang’s foreign relations in 2025, highlighting U.S.-China tensions, the Russia-Ukraine war, and potential U.S.-DPRK talks. He believes the U.S.-China rivalry won’t lead to the bloc system DPRK expects, while viewing Pyongyang’s military ties with Russia as a miscalculat...

Nilay Tavli (PhD student, Hanyang University) and Kyung-young Chung (Professor, Hanyang University) examine the evolving nature of North Korea's unconventional warfare tactics, focusing on the regime's recent use of balloon provocations and the resultant psychological threats to South Korea. They recommend Seoul enhance its defense capabilities and...

Byung-yeon Kim, Distinguished Professor at Seoul National University, examines North Korea’s recent economic performance, comparing it to the relative stability of its policies from 2013 to 2023, with a focus on exchange rate stability and price control. He analyzes the links between rising wages, surging exchange rates, and the regime’s attemp...

Chaesung Chun, Chair of EAI’s National Security Research Center and Professor at Seoul National University, examines the prospects and challenges of a potential second U.S.-North Korea summit under President Trump. He notes that Trump may seek a summit to bolster his domestic political standing, potentially pursuing a “small deal” centered on...

Yang Gyu Kim, Principal Researcher at EAI and Lecturer at Seoul National University, challenges the assumptions that nuclear weapons are essential for South Korea’s security and that even a small nuclear arsenal could effectively counter North Korea’s advancing nuclear threat. Drawing on historical lessons from the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race...

Young-Sun Ha, Chairman of the East Asia Institute and Emeritus Professor at Seoul National University, critically analyzes North Korea's nuclear development, its military support for Russia, and the deteriorating ties with China as key miscalculations of 2024 that intensify the Kim regime's crisis. He argues that these errors, compounded by economi...

Cheng-Chwee Kuik, a professor at the National University of Malaysia, notes that while a second Trump administration’s foreign policy is likely to adopt a transactional approach and distance itself from multilateralism, its impact on allies and partner states in Asia could differ substantially. He identifies ASEAN countries' commitment to neutral...

Andrew Yeo, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, outlines the potential opportunities and challenges in U.S.-DPRK relations under a second Trump administration. Yeo notes that Trump might engage more willingly in dialogue with Kim Jong Un, driven by a desire to establish his legacy by resolving the North Korean issue. In this regard, Yeo w...