Over the last four years, Jacco Zwetsloot has hosted 249 episodes of the NK News podcast, interviewing everyone from longtime Korea watchers and prominent defectors to Donald Trump’s point man for negotiations with Pyongyang. But the podcast’s 250th episode features a particularly special guest — the host himself.

This week, Zwetsloot talks with NK News Deputy Editor Arius Derr (@AriusDerr) about the first-ever North Korean to stand before a U.S. court and his research on DPRK comic books. They discuss why North Korean comics don’t depict Kim family leaders, the challenges of navigating South Korean restrictions on DPRK materials, what he has learned from hosting the podcast and more.

Zwetsloot’s article for NK News on the criminal case of DPRK diplomat O Nam Chol is available to read here, and his master’s thesis on North Korean comic novels is available here.

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

Why North Korean comic books don’t have superheroes – Ep. 250

The NK News Podcast is a weekly program covering all things North Korea: Discussion on the latest news, extended interviews with leading specialists, and insight from our own staff. We welcome both generalist and specialist audiences interested in knowing more about the Korean Peninsula..

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When North Korea released a new song praising leader Kim Jong Un in April, the regime was likely not expecting it to go viral around the world. 

DPRK historian Peter Moody joins the podcast to discuss Pyongyang’s latest hit, the popularity of North Korean girl bands and how they are influenced by K-pop, representative works that offer insight into what the country was like at the time of their creation, and his favorite North Korean song.

Peter Moody is a PhD graduate of Columbia University and a research fellow at Sungkyunkwan University. He is a North Korea historian with research interests in ideology and music diplomacy who also follows contemporary trends in culture and domestic politics.

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News.

Peter Moody: North Korean pop propaganda, girl groups and lyric revisionism

North Korea has launched around 1,000 balloons toward the South since last week, each carrying around 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of waste, including cigarette butts and manure. 

NK News CEO Chad O’Carroll (@chadocl) and Senior Analytic Correspondent Colin Zwirko (@ColinZwirko) sit down in the studio to discuss the DPRK’s unusual launches and its anger at leafleting by ROK activists.

They talk about Kim Yo Jong’s snarky justification for the balloon barrage, Seoul’s warning that it could restart loudspeaker broadcasts along the border in retaliation and whether the latest episode in the two sides’ long-running dispute over leaflets could open the door for information warfare campaigns.

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News.

North Korean trash balloons, Kim Yo Jong snark and Seoul’s loudspeaker threats

North Korea failed this week to place a spy satellite into orbit for the third time in four attempts since last year, after a carrier rocket exploded shortly after a satellite launch on Monday night. NK News correspondent Shreyas Reddy joins the podcast to talk about what went wrong, and why the DPRK opted to use a new engine after achieving success with a different design last November.

Then, Ambassador Julie Turner sits down in the studio to discuss her work as the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues and why Washington is determined to have a dialogue with the DPRK about human rights.

She explains why she believes international scrutiny can help improve the human rights situation inside the DPRK, whether the U.S. should send information into the country and why she doesn’t take Pyongyang’s attacks on her background and work personally.

Julie Turner was sworn in as the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues on Oct. 13, 2023. A career civil service employee, she previously served as the office director in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Office of East Asia and the Pacific at the U.S. Department of State and previously was the director for Southeast Asia at the National Security Council.

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

Why the US seeks dialogue with North Korea on human rights – Ep. 344

Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in released a lengthy memoir this week focusing on his foreign and defense policies and diplomacy with North Korea. NK News News Trainee Joe Smith shares what Moon revealed in his new book, as well as why two more World Cup qualifiers have been relocated from Pyongyang and North Korea’s display of new portraits of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin for the first time in a decade.

Then, journalist Yang Chien-hao joins the podcast to discuss what stories related to North Korea pique the interest of Taiwanese readers, the similarities and differences between China and Taiwan’s relationship and North and South Korea’s relationship and what Taiwan and North Korea have in common. 

Yang Chien-hao (@yangchienhao) is a Taiwanese journalist and columnist based in Seoul, South Korea. He is a freelance journalist for TVBS and Taiwan’s public television service. 

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

The surprising similarities between North Korea and Taiwan – Ep. 343

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held his first comprehensive press conference in 21 months last week, during which he discussed Seoul’s relationship with Moscow despite Russia’s burgeoning ties with North Korea. NK News Lead Correspondent Jeongmin Kim (@jeongminnkim) joins the podcast to discuss more of what Yoon had to say, as well as a balloon launch aimed at sending anti-regime leaflets and USB flash drives loaded with K-pop toward North Korea.

Then, Benjamin Joinau, a French cultural anthropologist specializing in Korean studies, discusses the comprehensive database of North Korean feature films he recently published. 

The database, which Joinau describes as a work in progress, comprises some 800 North Korean feature films that are categorized using the DPRK’s own classifications and aims to offer historical contextualization of the country’s movies. 

​Benjamin Joinau is a doctor of Cultural Anthropology specializing in Korean Studies. He is an associate researcher at the Center of Korean Studies (CRC) at School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris, and an assistant professor at Hongik University, Seoul.

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

Why North Korean comic books don’t have superheroes – Ep. 250

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