North Korea reportedly test-fired its new long-range cruise missiles and rail-mobile ballistic missiles four times in September, which successfully hit their respective targets. As the North continues to enhance its nuclear missile capabilities, military threats and arms races among neighboring powers are intensifying. The North claims that prospec...

North Korean businesses run by state-supplied energy have not been properly operated due to a sharp decrease in energy supply. Long-standing energy shortages have paralyzed the state energy supply and demand system, causing further disruptions in statewide functions. In this commentary, Kyung-sool Kim, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Korea E...

North Korea’s gymnastics has been used as a means to consolidate its education on political ideology of the socialist system. North Korea's art performances which are in the form of large-scale gymnastic or mass games involving youth, students, and workers have been carried out for its internal governance and charm offensive. The author underline...

Global NK Zoom&Connect has met with diverse South Korean researchers who lead the study on North Korea and listened to their voices to understand the current research on North Korea. For this issue, we met with Koh Yu-hwan, the President of the Korea Institute for National Unification, the only national research institute for unification, prosperit...

The different landscapes of North and South Korea are the result of more than 60 years of separation on the Korean Peninsula. In this research review, Changmo Ahn, Professor of Architecture at Kyonggi University explains how ‘architecture mirrors the time,’ or in other words, how differences in ideologies led to stark differences in the archite...

While the EU had initially focused on engagement with North Korea in the 1990s, the North Korea nuclear crisis served as a turning point, pushing the EU to change its strategy to ‘critical engagement.’ In this commentary, Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Professor of International Relations at King's College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussel...

Kim So Wol (1902-1934), widely known for his beautiful yet sorrowful verses in his poems including “Azalea,” has been long beloved by his readers. In this Research Report, Dr. Yee Jisun, Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, dives deep into how the poet’s works have been received and interpreted in North and South K...

While the EU had initially engaged with North Korea through a conciliatory approach, its stance against the authoritarian state has been more critical, manifest in its policy of ‘critical engagement.’ In this commentary, Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Professor of International Relations at King's College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels...

Following the arrival of anti-DPRK leaflets in North Korea in 2020, North Korea cut all inter-Korean hotlines. The communication hotline between North and South Korea have been reestablished following a one year hiatus on July 27, raising doubts about what North Korea’s intentions behind this move are. While some claim that this update indicated ...

Propaganda, among other tools, is a widely used means by the North Korean government to bolster the basis of its regime. The use of distorted news through inaccurate publications is one way in which propagandistic information is circulated within not only North Korea, but also in foreign countries online. In this commentary, Dr. Sandip Mishra, Asso...