Korea, North

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, North Korea has embraced relations with Russia as a key component of its foreign policy and domestic development. However,…

Relations between Russia and North Korea are growing closer. Pyongyang has been publically supportive of Russia’s war in Ukraine and is reported to have supplied Moscow with millions of artillery…

KEI is pleased to hold a program on Economic Security and U.S.-China Competition: The View From North Korea. One country is conspicuously missing from existing discussions about the dilemmas and…

The recent war in Ukraine, Russia’s overtures towards North Korea, and North Korea’s emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic all signal a sea-change for the DPRK’s place in the international system.…

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Council have begun the process of selecting a new Special Rapporteur to focus on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).  Special Rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana has held the mandate for DPRK human rights for the…

There is a long tradition of considering North Korean leaders’ public appearances as a potential source of information on the regime’s priorities (see for example: Haggard, Herman, and Ryu; Pyo and Hur; Kim and Lee).  We now have ten full years of this data for Kim Jong-un through the South Korea Ministry of Unification portal,…

Given the paucity of data on North Korea, the food prices provided by Rimjingang and DailyNK are often used for a variety of analytic purposes: to monitor seasonal fluctuations that most affect the poor; as a wider proxy for inflation; and as an indicator of larger constraints on the economy, including sanctions and the border…

Last month was the fifth anniversary of North Korea's assassination of Kim Jong-nam using VX, a deadly nerve agent. On 13 February 2017, the half brother of Chairman Kim Jong-un was attacked by North Korean proxies in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. Experts say that the deployment of a horrific weapon outside of…

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