Fudan University’s Center for Korean Studies discusses ROK-China cooperation measures for crisis management on the Korean Peninsula amidst intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition. While the ROK-U.S. alliance is strengthening, the Center recommends that South Korea pursue multilateral diplomacy based on pragmatism and persuade the U.S. to dr...

Chaesung Chun, Chair of the EAI’s National Security Research Center and Professor at Seoul National University, explores the complex nature of the North Korean human rights issues and offers policy direction to improve the dire situation. Highlighting that ideological, political, and policy polarizations within South Korea hinder effective policy...

While North Korea is readily perceived as the “hermit kingdom,” the regime in fact actively engages in multilateral efforts to combat climate change. Sangkuk Kim (Researcher, Freie Universitaet Berlin) and Eric J. Ballbach (Visiting Fellow, German Institute of International and Security Affairs) analyze the rationales, motives, and strategies t...

Nicola Casarini, an associate fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali, compares the different North Korea policies implemented by the US and the European Union (EU). Casarini points out that while the US pursues its DPRK strategy within the context of US-China competition, the EU prioritizes cooperation and dialogue with the DPRK to advance th...

Sharon Squassoni, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, provides insights on mitigating the risk of North Korea’s nuclear weapons while still aiming for complete denuclearization. The author proposes four approaches to achieve this: (1) preventing nuclear war, (2) improving crisis stability fo...

Minwoo Yun, a professor at Gachon University, informs that North Korea’s use of YouTube as a tool for cognitive warfare poses a critical threat to liberal democracies worldwide. He believes that North Korea’s YuMi and Song A channels, which portray the daily lives of young women and girls in North Korea, are part of Pyongyang’s attempt to cou...

North Korea has faced challenges in meeting its energy demands and has struggled with energy shortages for several decades. Addressing the lack of policy discussion on energy engagement with North Korea, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars highlights the need to find potential avenues for future energy cooperation that can reduce t...

Gyun Yeol Park, Professor at Gyeongsang National University, highlights that North Korea's one-party dictatorship centered around its supreme leader suppresses political participation and human rights and hinders North Korea from overcoming the hardships of low economic growth, inefficiency, and recessions. Considering that Seoul and Pyongyang shou...

Adrian Buzo, a former professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, suggests that Kimism, or “the political philosophy of the former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung,” was shaped by cultist Japanese militarism and state-centralized Soviet Stalinism. Considering recent geopolitical trends, the failure of maximum pressure on Kim Jong-un’s regime,...

Heung Seog Lee, Professor at Kookmin University and Secretary-General at Global Defense Research Forum claims that the institutionalization of the Suryong’s rule and Party-Government-Military Complex in accordance with the revolutionary tradition has made the North Korean regime's hereditary succession possible. Until now, North Korea has not est...