North Korea News Podcast by NK News

Geopolitical policy and nuclear wonks continue to try and wrap their minds around what North Korea is trying to do and how it will get there, but perhaps the most revealing medium through which to understand the Hermit Kingdom is through its literature, film, music, and TV dramas.

In this episode of the NK News Podcast, Tatiana Gabroussenko visited our Seoul studio to discuss the religious nature of North Korean literature, why true policy is never written down, and whether or not North Korea's texts would survive a unified Korea.

Tatiana is a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University. Her book "Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the early history of North Korean literature and literary policy", was included in the Choice magazine list of Outstanding Academic Titles of 2012, and she writes a monthly column for NK News.

If you have any questions about cultural production in North Korea, be sure to send them to us at [email protected]’ll collect the best ones and have Tatiana answer them in another episode.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interview with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

Also, the NK Shop is back in business!

We have DPRK-inspired limited edition t-shirts, vintage posters and a 2019 calendar just in time for the holidays. As a thank you for your continued support, we’d like to offer listeners a special discount: just use code nkpodcast10 at checkout for an instant 10% off your total purchase.

*NK News Subscription Giveaway: Each month, we’ll be choosing a lucky reviewer on iTunes to to win a FREE NK News subscription. Want to gain instant access to breaking news stories and in-depth analysis discussed in our podcast? You can sign up for an annual NK News subscription, and save $50 by using promo code “podcast” at checkout: nknews.org/signup

Congratulations to October's winner, Patricio Worthalter (U.S.). Please contact [email protected] with proof of your username identity, to redeem your subscription.

Featured image: Pyeongyang Press Corps

During his four years in-country with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Thomas Fisler saw more of the "real," unfiltered North Korea than just about any foreigner.

In an interview, he shared with us his experiences working to bring aid to the most disadvantaged parts of North Korea and the key differences between the DPRK and his other humanitarian postings.

Thomas Fisler is retired Swiss diplomat who served as Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in the DPRK from 2013-2017.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interview with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

Also, the NK Shop is back in business! We have DPRK-inspired limited edition t-shirts, vintage posters and a 2019 calendar just in time for the holidays. As a thank you for your continued support, we’d like to offer listeners a special discount: just use code nkpodcast10 at checkout for an instant 10% off your total purchase.

Check out the shop here: https://www.nkshop.org/

As negotiations between the United States and North Korea continue to stall, it becomes increasingly clear that both sides have widely differing views of what denuclearization of the Korean peninsula means and how exactly to execute the agreements made in Singapore this year.

Determining the size, number, and power of nuclear and conventional weapons in North Korea is a crucial consideration that affects how negotiations will move forward, and there are few who have been watching this space more closely than Ankit Panda.

Ankit Panda is Senior Editor at the Diplomat, an adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, and a columnist for the South China Morning Post. He is also an occasional contributor to NK News's sister publication NK Pro.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interview with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

Also, the NK Shop is back in business! We have DPRK-inspired limited edition t-shirts, vintage posters and a 2019 calendar just in time for the holidays. As a thank you for your continued support, we’d like to offer listeners a special discount: just use code nkpodcast10 at checkout for an instant 10% off your total purchase.

Seoul and Washington appear far from lockstep in their North Korea strategies as both continue to engage in high-profile meetings with North Korean officials.

Plus, South Korea's unification minister is under fire for his conduct towards the media, the JSA will open to the public, and North Korea's grim human rights situation comes under renewed examination.

We discuss these issues and more in a round table discussion with the NK News team.

On the panel: NK News CEO Chad O'Carroll, Managing Editor Oliver Hotham, and Senior Correspondent Dagyum Ji.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interview with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

Also, the NK Shop is back in business! We have DPRK-inspired limited edition t-shirts, vintage posters and a 2019 calendar just in time for the holidays. As a thank you for your continued support, we’d like to offer listeners a special discount: just use code nkpodcast10 at checkout for an instant 10% off your total purchase.

Featured image: Blue House

Remarking on a decades-long career in the U.S. State Department, Ambassador Yun describes his experience establishing diplomatic solutions to the North Korean issue.

This week on the podcast, Yun explains his role in recovering Otto Warmbier, whether sanctions should be eased, and why he retired in the midst of fire and fury.

Joseph Yun is a former U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, serving from October 2016 to the end February of this year under both the Obama and Trump administration.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interview with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

Also, the NK Shop is back in business! We have DPRK-inspired limited edition t-shirts, vintage posters and a 2019 calendar just in time for the holidays. As a thank you for your continued support, we’d like to offer listeners a special discount: just use code nkpodcast10 at checkout for an instant 10% off your total purchase.

Featured image: U.S. Department of State

This week, we introduce you to the first installment of the Foreign Media Monitor (FMM) podcast series, based on the weekly service available to NK Pro subscribers.

While North Korea coverage in Western media is typically quite comprehensive, there are plenty of unique, locally-sourced news and analysis available only in foreign language outlets that are often overlooked because of a language barrier.

And every week, the Foreign Media Monitor collects those unnoticed unique stories from Chinese, Japanese, South Korean and Russian media, combined into a professionally-translated newsletter for NK Pro readers.

This week, we invited the translators behind the FMM, John Petrushka (Chinese), Kosuke Takahashi (Japanese), and Fyodor Tertitskiy (Russian), to examine how foreign medias cover (or don't cover) North Korea, discuss how the countries responded to key developments in Pyongyang, and share some oddball reports on the DPRK.

About the guests: John Petrushka is an NK News contributor based in Washington, D.C. He studied Asia and International Affairs at Georgetown University and George Washington University. His other research topics include transitional justice in North Korea.

Kosuke Takahashi is a Tokyo-based journalist. His work has appeared in the Asahi Shimbun, Bloomberg, Asia Times, Jane's Defence Weekly and The Diplomat, among other publications.

Fyodor Tertitskiy is a News Analyst at NK Pro. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Seoul National University.

Interested in signing up for the Foreign Media Monitor? Check out the NK Pro service here and see if you or your institution qualifies for a trial: http://signup.nknews.org/nk-pro/

Also, the NK Shop is back in business! We have DPRK-inspired limited edition t-shirts, vintage posters and a 2019 calendar just in time for the holidays. As a thank you for your continued support, we'd like to offer listeners a special discount: just use code nkpodcast10 at checkout for an instant 10% off your total purchase. Check out the shop here: https://www.nkshop.org/

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interview with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

Nine years old at the start of the Korean War, Ra Jong-yil has seen the ebbs and flows of inter-Korean relations since the peninsula was divided.

This historical outlook has given him much perspective in which to view the current atmosphere of reconciliation and what’s driving the North Korean regime to "come out" to the world. But Ambassador Ra also says there’s plenty of reasons to be pessimistic.

In this podcast, we explore the problems with present conceptualizations of Korean reunification, learn about the human face behind the Rangoon bombing of 1983, weigh Jang Sung-taek’s options prior to his assassination, and much more.

Ra Jong-yil is a former South Korean ambassador to Japan and the United Kingdom and former head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interview with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

Want to gain instant access to breaking news stories and in-depth analysis discussed in our podcast? You can sign up for an annual NK News subscription, and save $50 by using promo code “podcast” at checkout. nkews.org/signup

This week on the podcast, Martina Aberg Somogyi, former Deputy Head of Mission at the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, shares what day-to-day work and life is like as a diplomat in the DPRK, and what level of freedom she had outside of working hours.

Also discussed is Sweden's role as a "protecting power" in North Korea, the country's humanitarian projects throughout the country, and how her experiences have differed from other diplomats stationed in Pyongyang.

Somogyi finished her posting in September, and has since returned to Stockholm to continue her work with the Swedish foreign ministry.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

*NK News Subscription Giveaway:

Congratulations to September's winner, worksoutbutlikespizza. Please contact [email protected] with proof of your username identity, to redeem your subscription.

Each month, we’ll be choosing a lucky reviewer on iTunes to to win a FREE NK News subscription.

Want to gain instant access to breaking news stories and in-depth analysis discussed in our podcast? You can sign up for an annual NK News subscription, and save $50 by using promo code “podcast” at checkout: nknews.org/signup

In this episode of the NK News Podcast, Korea Risk Group's Managing Director Chad O'Carroll delves into NK Pro's latest "Month in Review," a new regular in-depth analysis series only available to NK Pro members.

Looking at the main developments that took place between August 18 to September 21, O'Carroll discusses the most important issues discussed in a recent inter-Korean summit, the state of sanctions, and implications for maximum pressure, as well as the risks and wider significance associated with these events.

And until this month only, non-NK Pro members can read the full version of the discussed report for free here.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

*NK News Subscription Giveaway: Each month, we’ll be choosing a lucky reviewer on iTunes to to win a FREE NK News subscription.

Want to gain instant access to breaking news stories and in-depth analysis discussed in our podcast? You can sign up for an annual NK News subscription, and save $50 by using promo code “podcast” at checkout: nknews.org/signup

Featured image: Pyeongyang Press Corps

Just two days after North Korea’s 70th Foundation Day anniversary celebrations, South Korean President Moon Jae-in headed to Pyongyang with a 200-member entourage to mark his third summit with Kim Jong Un.

As a result of three days of inter-Korean “peaceful political theatre”, we saw two new joint agreements that included a North Korean commitment to dismantle a missile/rocket engine testing site under international inspection, both Koreas agree to end military drills, and Kim Jong Un expressing his will to visit Seoul this year and to meet President Trump again soon.

Having covered the developments from the Summit Press Center in the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Senior Correspondent Dagyum Ji and Managing Editor Oliver Hotham joined Korea Risk Group analyst Peter Ward on Friday for another rough and ready roundtable podcast.

In discussion? President Moon’s unprecedented speech in front of 150,000 North Korean citizens, the budding relationship between the first ladies, and what this summit could mean for the Korean Peninsula and the U.S. going forward.

About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.

*NK News Subscription Giveaway: Each month, we’ll be choosing a lucky reviewer on iTunes to to win a FREE NK News subscription. Want to gain instant access to breaking news stories and in-depth analysis discussed in our podcast? You can sign up for an annual NK News subscription, and save $50 by using promo code “podcast” at checkout: nknews.org/signup

Featured image: Pyeongyang Press Corps