Korea, North

In this special episode of Korean Kontext, KEI's Juni Kim sat down with three North Korean defectors who have settled in South Korea. Each of them has a different story…

The upcoming presidential election in Korea on May 9th will place many key issues under the microscope. One meriting serious consideration that has featured less prominently in the political discourse…

After the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex last year, economic ties between North and South Korea have all but ceased. And as sanctions measures continue to tighten, the international…

Ever since last summer, when South Korea and the United States announced they would be deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to the peninsula, China…

With Joe Biden headed to the White House, North Korea watchers are speculating how the incoming administration will deal with this long-standing foreign policy irritant. One place to look for cues: how Obama’s first year with Kim Jong Il panned out. In doing so, we now have the advantage of several new memoirs—from Susan Rice,…

South Korea in 2020 faced difficult challenges both off and on the Korean Peninsula. As in other states, the coronavirus pandemic took center stage by irreversibly changing every aspect of society. And inter-Korean relations remain stalled, as Pyongyang continues to stonewall every entreaty from Seoul. But this year also saw Korea make significant advances in…

The UN Security Council discussed North Korea’s human rights abuses in a closed session on Friday December 11.  Because of the Covid pandemic, it was a virtual (online) meeting rather than an in-person session, and because of Chinese and Russian objections, it was a closed session without the presence of news media to report on…

In the next few days, the United Nations General Assembly will approve a resolution on “The Situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”  The text of the 11 page resolution reviews the human rights abuses that the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea’s human rights documented (2013-2014), as well as…

Please join KEI for a discussion on North Korea’s potential incorporation of AI into its cyber arsenal.