Korea, North

For understandable reasons, the international community has been focused on North Korea's nuclear program, concerned that Pyongyang could have a weapon capable of such massive destruction. But should they also…

Last week, we looked at the details of the new US and UN sanctions against North Korea, delving into the new measures to get at Pyongyang's funding. But will they…

On February 18, President Barack Obama signed into law a new round of sanctions designed to further squeeze the North Korean regime. On March 3, the United Nations Security Council…

In the decades following the Korean War, North Korea initiated a top-secret project to kidnap ordinary people from Japan, reeducate them, and turn them into international spies for the regime.…

In the summer of 2017 Rex Tillerson, during his tenure as Secretary of State for the first 13 months of the Trump administration, authorized a “Geographical Travel Restriction” prohibiting U.S. citizens from traveling “into, through or in North Korea.”  The travel prohibition became effective on September 1, 2017, and it was valid for one year. …

On July 27, the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) announced that “the top leaders of the north and the south agreed to make a big stride in recovering the mutual trust and promoting reconciliation by restoring the cutoff inter-Korean communication liaison lines through the recent several exchanges of personal letters.”  The hotline was restored at…

Earlier this week, the North Korean Foreign Ministry released an article entitled “‘Humanitarian Aid’ Should Not Be Abused For Sinister Political Purpose.”  The article was given wide circulation—released by the Foreign Ministry and also the official press agency KCNA.  In a country where the media is rigidly controlled by the regime, the release of such…

Outside observers sometimes interpret the adoption of South Korean pop culture trends by North Korea’s state-sanctioned outlets as symbols of the regime buckling under the internal demand for change. The implicit hope is that cultural imitation of South Korea will lead to Pyongyang’s liberalization in other areas, particularly the economy and the political structure. People…

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