On today’s episode, Kornel Chang discusses his new book “A Fractured Liberation: Korea Under U.S. Occupation,” which sheds light on the period from 1945 to 1950 when the country was divided into the North and South. Chang describes how the immediate post-liberation “opening” was more fluid than commonly portrayed, with ordinary Koreans pursuing varied aspirations […]

NK News Executive Director Jeongmin Kim joins the podcast to discuss the story of a North Korean defector in her 70s who is under investigation for allegedly leaking the locations of fellow escapees to Pyongyang’s secret police, as well as the daring maritime defection of a North Korean who swam across the Han River estuary. […]

On this week’s episode, Maeng Hyo-shim, a young woman who fled North Korea in 2018, joins the podcast to share her experiences of state discrimination, systemic neglect and a violent attack against her disabled mother which led her family to escape the DPRK. Born in Hyesan in 2001, Maeng shares her memories of life growing […]

On this week’s episode, NK News Data Analyst Anton Sokolin unpacks major construction updates on the Russia–DPRK car bridge project near the Tumen River.  He also breaks down the ambitious trilateral initiative to launch historical boat tours connecting China, Russia and North Korea along the same river as well as new direct flights between Moscow […]

The flurry of summitry in 2018-19 between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in inspired hopes for a breakthrough on resolving a decades-old conflict, only for talks to collapse without any progress on the DPRK nuclear issue. This week, historian John Delury returns to the podcast […]

North Korea broke its relative silence about the new South Korean administration of Lee Jae-myung on Monday, with the DPRK leader’s sister Kim Yo Jong dismissing the president’s peace overtures and attacking Seoul’s alliance with the U.S. NK News Lead Correspondent Shreyas Reddy joins the podcast to discuss why North Korea’s proverbial “bad cop” suddenly […]

North Korea’s ruling Kim family has orchestrated not one but two leadership successions during its over seven decades in power, and may well be preparing for a third. But the success of such transitions in authoritarian states is far from certain and depends in large part on how rulers manage the elites that compose their […]

South Korea’s National Assembly questioned the Lee administration’s nominees for key positions last week, including the ministers of unification, defense, foreign affairs and labor, and North Korea issues ended up playing a prominent role at all of the hearings. NK News Correspondent Joon Ha Park joins the podcast this week to discuss the main takeaways […]

In this episode, Professor Andrei Lankov and NK News’ Anton Sokolin discuss the fascinating story of the Yankovskys — a Russian family whose journey took them from Siberian exile to colonial Korea, and ultimately, to the heart of North Korea’s tumultuous 20th-century history. The discussion centers on the family’s time in what became the DPRK […]

NK News Senior Analytic Correspondent Colin Zwirko joins this week’s episode to discuss Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s high-profile visit to the newly opened Wonsan Kalma beach resort, where he met Kim Jong Un aboard a luxury yacht. He also dissects emerging signs that North Korea is preparing for a military parade and possible mass […]