North Korea News Podcast by NK News

Thursday saw NK News Managing Director Chad O'Carroll and Managing Editor Oliver Hotham return from an eight-day trip to North Korea, intended, in large part, to cover the festivities surrounding the country's 70th anniversary.

Now, in a round table recorded the very next day, Chad and Oliver share initial thoughts from the trip, some impressions gathered from speaking to locals, and what it all means for the larger geopolitical picture going forward.

*Congratulations to Kayemaye and Ivan Curtis for winning the July and August subscription giveaways! Please contact [email protected] to redeem your free subscription, with proof of your username identity. Each month, we’ll be choosing a lucky reviewer on iTunes to to win a FREE NK News subscription.

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.

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.

Featured image: NK News

This week's episode stems a bit from our usual expert interviews and roundtables. 

NK News exists because of you, our readers and listeners, and your continued interest enables us to deliver the best news, data, and analysis about North Korea. 

For this episode, we wanted to learn more about our subscribers, and give them the opportunity to share how they got into the North Korea field--whether it's professional, academic, or just pure curiosity. 

*Congratulations to Kayemaye and Ivan Curtis for winning the July and August subscription giveaways! Please contact [email protected] to redeem your free subscription, with proof of your username identity. Each month, we’ll be choosing a lucky reviewer on iTunes to to win a FREE NK News subscription.

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.

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

Kim Jong Un has participated in a record number of summits this year, with another meeting with President Moon in Pyongyang this month. But while high-level diplomacy has been brisk, what has been done to improve the human rights situation in North Korea?

Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) in Washington D.C., explains why any economic, political, or developmental engagement with Pyongyang is dependent on first improving the lives of the North Korean people.

Scarlatoiu has directed the publication of 24 reports and books, and leads public media and international organization outreach to highlight North Korean human rights abuses. He has also appeared as an expert witness at several U.S. Congressional hearings on North Korean human rights.

*Congratulations to Kayemaye and Ivan Curtis for winning the July and August subscription giveaways! Please contact [email protected] to redeem your free subscription, with proof of your username identity. Each month, we’ll be choosing a lucky reviewer on iTunes to to win a FREE NK News subscription.

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.

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.

North Korean culture is, on the surface, a difficult pill to swallow. But beyond the goose-stepping soldiers and sobbing sycophancy lies a rich, deeply thought-out, and highly nuanced music, art and, in particular, film industry.

Dr. David Shuster, a historian of modern Korea at the University of Jerusalem, explains how the North Korean state uses comedy and humor in this cultural space, the influence of Hollywood, and how Marilyn Monroe became a symbol of revolutionary struggle against the bourgeoisie.

David Shuster's research focuses on cultural politics, film and visual culture, and everyday history of the two Koreas during the Cold War period. His current book project, Laughing Angels, Crying Devils: Making Comedy in Postwar North Korea, examines the role of comedy and circus in North Korea's domestic politics and its relations with the outside world.

**Congratulations to Kayemaye and Ivan Curtis for winning the July and August subscription giveaway! Please contact [email protected] to redeem your free subscription, with proof of your username identity. Each month, we'll be choosing a lucky reviewer on iTunes to to win a FREE NK News subscription.

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.

This week, Dr. Bronwen Dalton joins the NK News Podcast to explain how women are driving many of the changes in North Korea, how women are essential to the marketization of the economy, and the ways in which the infamously patriarchal society is being challenged from all sides.

Dr. Bronwen Dalton is an associate professor at the University of Sydney. She has a long association with Korea, and is a former member of the board of the Australia-Korean foundation.

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.

There is real change in North Korea, but it’s not due to sanctions, summits, or cogent statecraft, says Liberty in North Korea’s Sokeel Park.

Instead, he says, change is driven by the 25 million North Koreans not named Kim Jong Un, with the people taking it upon themselves to improve their lives and their country.

This week, Park joins the NK News Podcast to discuss how these changes manifest, why human rights need to be discussed with the same urgency as security issues, and why the Kim government isn’t as aloof and unresponsive to public opinion as is conventionally believed.

Sokeel Park is South Korea country director and director of research and strategy for LiNK. As well as overseeing the NGO's Seoul-based operations, he works with defectors and experts to offer up-to-date analysis on North Korea and foster people-focused strategies to facilitate change in the DPRK.

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.

This week, the NK News team explores the implications of war remains returned to the U.S., the contentious restaurant worker defector issue, and ongoing sports and film exchanges between the two Koreas.

Also discussed? Pyongyang's ongoing construction boom, North Korean sanction-busting, and why diplomacy with the North may stall.

The panel: NK News CEO and founder Chad O’Carroll, Managing Editor Oliver Hotham, and Junior Correspondent Colin Zwirko.

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.

Featured image: USFK

Peter Ward spent the last three and a half weeks traveling around North Korea, observing first-hand the increasing marketization of the country and its impact on society. Whether this will lead to reform and opening up is another question, he says, but people’s lives are certainly improving.

Also discussed: the DPRK's unique euphemisms for market activity, how some North Koreans are getting rich without the government's help, and what locals claim is the country's "new era" of relations with the U.S.

Peter Ward is a North Korea researcher, just about to graduate with a masters degree from Seoul National University in Sociology with a thesis dissertation on the North Korean fishing industry. He also writes regular analysis for NK Pro and NK News. 

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.

Escalating tensions on the peninsula, followed by a last-minute diplomatic "breakthrough" to cool things down, then headache after headache as a long-term deal seems just out of reach.

Lieutenant Colonel Steve Tharp has seen this all before.

In this week's episode, we learn the lessons gleaned from years of first-hand negotiations with the North Koreans, why he believes present talks are unlikely to yield any more fruit than previous episodes, and why Pyongyang uses an eight-stage cycle of provocation that, Tharp says, hasn't changed since the Korean War.

Steve Tharp is a retired U.S. Army officer whose 28-year-career included 14 years in Korea-based assignments in the 2nd Infantry Division and the UN Command Military Armistice Commission.

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.

**Congratulations to the June winner for the subscription giveaway: “WayteAnArchitect”! Please contact the team at [email protected] to redeem your free NK News subscription.

Leave us a review of the North Korea News Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or another podcast platform for a chance to win a FREE NK News subscription. We’ll be choosing one winner every month.

**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.

Often overlooked in the pomp and circumstance of summit diplomacy are the millions of North Koreans that have the most to gain and lose from how those negotiations play out.

In this episode of the North Korea News Podcast, we sit down with two former DPRK residents to gauge what they think about the recent warming of relations between the two Koreas, the role they see themselves playing in inter-Korean relations, cultural differences, and much more.

Ann originally comes from Musan, a county in central North Hamgyong province. She escaped the North 12 years ago at the age of 14. She now lives together with her parents in Incheon and has recently graduated with a major in international trade and economics.

Jenny is from Hamhung, the capital of South Hamgyong Province (North Korea’s second biggest city). She left her hometown ten years ago at the age of 16. Now graduated from Korea University with a degree in Sociology, she is currently doing her Masters in North Korean Studies in Seoul. 

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.

**Congratulations to the June winner for the subscription giveaway: “WayteAnArchitect”! Please contact the team at [email protected] to redeem your subscription.

Leave us a review of the North Korea News Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or another podcast platform for a chance to win a FREE NK News subscription. We’ll be choosing one winner every month.

**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.