Jeong Won Na, a researcher at Seoul Pyongyang News depicts Kim Jong-un as a trend-sensitive and adventurous leader and provides an overview of the recent changes in North Korea. He states that the symbolic importance of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-il has been visibly reduced as Kimilsungia and Kimjongillia flowers disappeared after 2019 and the virtue...

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...

In response to increasing nuclear and missile threats coming from Pyongyang, Nishino Junya, Professor at Keio University, claims that Japan is determined to increase its defense capacity, further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance, and expand cooperation with neighboring countries in the region. By implementing the five-year military plan and adopt...

What is the impact of the war in Ukraine on North Korea’s unprecedented military provocations? Seung-soo Hyun, a research fellow at Korea Institute for National Unification, points out that Moscow’s defense of Pyongyang at the UN Security Council has emboldened North Korea. However, considering the low economic compatibility between the two cou...

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,...

Byoung Kwon Sohn, Professor at Chung-Ang University, predicts that the Biden administration will likely stick to its stance on foreign policy, with the Senate secure in Democratic hands and the inter-party House seat margin found to be smaller than expected. Encountering the recent escalation in North Korea, he claims that Washington will keep the ...

Jungkun Seo, Professor at Kyung Hee University, claims that with the results of the midterm elections in favor of Biden and the Democrats, Biden could likely run for re-election. Added to this, he expects that there will be no innovative strategy to tackle North Korea as Biden would have no choice but to take a hardline stance ahead of the 2024 ele...

Andrew Ikhyun Kim, White House Fellow at the Office of Management and Budget, suggests global health diplomacy as a conceptual framework to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table and de-escalate the situation. In specific, he proposes a health aid package engaging North Korea in the long term which is owned, driven, co-financed by North Ko...

Wang Hwi Lee, Professor at Ajou University, claims that United States’ move to exclude China from global supply chains will likely benefit Korean semiconductor and secondary battery businesses as Beijing’s aggressive push to become a world leader in high-tech industries poses a systemic threat to Korea. However, it is difficult for South Korea ...

Young Nam Cho, Professor at Seoul National University, claims that Xi Jinping’s third consecutive term breaks a decades-long practice regarding party leadership in China, which would increase political uncertainty, hinder innovation, pose challenges to future succession and have negative implications for China’s elite politics. While all the me...