In this Research Review, Gyubin Choi, Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, analyzes the implications of North Korea’s implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which was reported through its 2021 Voluntary National Review. Dr. Choi finds that, though Pyongyang has committed to all 17 SDGs, it did so s...

In this Commentary, Yang Gyu Kim, Principal Researcher at the East Asia Institute (EAI), explains the objectives behind the U.S.’ invitation of its key allies the Indo-Pacific to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit. He posits that the U.S. aims to establish a highly institutionalized cooperative mechanism that combines the capaci...

Young-Ho Park, Director at the Korea Peace Foundation and an Invitation Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, evaluates the May 2022 ROK-U.S. Summit and provides prospects for the Yoon administration’s North Korea policy. Dr. Park highlights that the summit symbolizes the progression of the ROK-U.S. into a comprehensive...

In this commentary, Bong Sup Shin, Visiting Professor at Kwangwoon University and former Consul General of the Korean Consulate in Shenyang, China, writes on the current status of DPRK-China relations and its implications for the Yoon administration. Dr. Shin argues that Sino-North Korean relations revolve around the balance of respective national ...

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office on May 10th, faces serious challenges ahead of its term, ranging from North Korea’s provocations to navigating a geopolitical flux between China and the U.S. In this commentary, the Global NK Editorial Board provides policy recommendations for the Yoon administration’s North Korea policy in the areas of ...

Amid North Korea’s continued provocations, South Korea not only lies under external threats emerging from Pyongyang’s weapons proliferation, but also from domestic factors such as political polarization. Vowed to open an era of national unity, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, set to inaugurate on May 10th, faces a myriad of challenges in build...

As of April 2022, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) has become more aggressive in all areas, including ideology, economy, foreign policy, and nuclear strategy. As President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is inaugurated next week, he faces serious challenges in navigating inter-Korean and U.S.-DPRK relations under these conditi...

In this Commentary, Jihwan Hwang, Professor at the University of Seoul, provides a dim outlook for North Korea’s course of actions following the Russia-Ukraine War. Dr. Hwang claims that the war has confirmed North Korea’s correlation between nuclear weapons and survival and its view that a peace regime provides no guarantee for security. The a...

In this Commentary, Sangmin Lee, Director of the North Korean Military Research Division at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), provides an evaluation of North Korea’s ICBM technology, discusses the threat behind North Korea’s development of tactical nuclear weapons, and suggests ways in which South Korea can deter North Korean mil...

The following Research Review contains a summary of the article “Changes in North Korea’s Financial System During the Kim Jong Un Era: Based on North Korean Literature,” co-authored by Minjung Kim and Sung Min Moon of the Bank of Korea. In this Research Review, Minjung Kim, an economist in the Economic Research Institute at Bank of Korea, dis...