Ask me about North Korea

In the blitz episodes, I combine different smaller questions that do not require as much elaboration as some broad topics that I normally discuss – like nuclear weapons or economic development. Today I am talking about why the DPRK conducts elections, what kind of Internet access North Koreans have, and whether Kim Jong-un really executed his uncle by sending a pack of angry Manchurian hounds to tear him apart. For the full transcript and references visit the website – www.askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com

At the beginning of 2021, Pyongyang went on with its plans to conduct the 8th Party Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The event has attracted a lot of attention from the international media as Kim Jong-un has buffed up his aggressive rhetoric against the United States. So, what is up with that Congress anyway? I am talking about it in this episode, briefly summarizing its outcomes. Brace yourself – you are about to discover the favorite game of Pyongyangologists called ‘Who is sitting next to Kim Jong-un in a Party Congress?’ For the full transcript and references visit the website -

askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com

Let me guess what is one of the first things that come up to your mind when you hear about North Korea. Nuclear weapons, right? In this episode we will be looking at one of the most important reasons why North Korea ends up in the news so often – its nuclear weapons program. Why does North Korea need nuclear weapons? Why are people so concerned about it? Is North Korea really ready to denuclearize? Here I provide very short and clear responses to these questions. For the full transcript and references visit the website - https://askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com

Even today a lot of people and media outlets still believe that North Korea is some sort of communist haven of Stalinist dystopia. While it is a very authoritarian country, North Korea is definitely not communist as it has radically transformed in the 1990s and 2000s. In this episode, I explain how and why the country and its society changed so dramatically. For the full transcript and references visit the website - https://askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com

North Korea, unlike its Southern neighbor, is not particularly well-known for occupying first lines in various life quality indexes or demonstrating rapid paces of economic development. According to different estimates, the South is 30 to 50 times richer than the North. How come is that two parts of what used to be one country less than a century ago are now so different? Why is North Korea so poor and how did it come to that? I will talk about that in today’s episode. For the full transcript and references visit the website - https://askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com

As of January 2021, North Korea maintains that it has not suffered from a single case of the COVID-19 – a claim that was met with a lot of skepticism from the international community. Is it really true? In this episode I will be talking about how Pyongyang dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and whether we can trust what the DPRK says. For the full transcript and references visit the website - https://askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com

In this episode I talk about why 2021 will likely become another year that will bring North Korea back to the headlines of the international media. I explain why North Korea might choose to manufacture another crisis and why this is connected with the new president of the United States. For the full transcript and references visit the website - https://askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com