North Korea News Podcast

Few populations in the world need more help than North Koreans. Chronic food insecurity, poor sanitation and hygiene practices, inadequate infrastructure and energy shorts affect millions in the country, even in the relatively well-off capital. These issues have compounded over the last three years due to the regime’s ultra-strict pandemic controls…

Few populations in the world need more help than North Koreans. Chronic food insecurity, poor sanitation and hygiene practices, inadequate infrastructure and energy shorts affect millions in the country, even in the relatively well-off capital.These issues have compounded over the last three years due to the regime’s ultra-strict pandemic controls.…

When the U.S. dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Japan in 1945, it killed or injured tens of thousands of ethnic Koreans working — often against their will — at munitions and other factories in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Tokyo has provided support for Japanese victims, but the situation has been entirely different for Koreans. And as Lauren Richardson o…

When the U.S. dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Japan in 1945, it killed or injured tens of thousands of ethnic Koreans working — often against their will — at munitions and other factories in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tokyo has provided support for Japanese victims, but the situation has been entirely different for Koreans. […]…

The Joint Security Area on the inter-Korean border used to be a popular tourist destination, a place where North and South Korean soldiers stare each other down and visitors can actually step over the Military Demarcation Line within the confines of the famous blue buildings. But since the start of COVID-19, the U.N. Command overseeing the area has…

The Joint Security Area on the inter-Korean border used to be a popular tourist destination, a place where North and South Korean soldiers stare each other down and visitors can actually step over the Military Demarcation Line within the confines of the famous blue buildings. But since the start of COVID-19, the U.N. Command overseeing […]…

For decades, North Korea has stressed the virtues of self-reliance, eschewing more robust ties with the outside world in favor of greater autonomy, even at significant cost to its economy. Founding leader Kim Il Sung championed this Korean-style autarky under the name Juche, and this ideology of self-reliance and national sovereignty found a recept…

For decades, North Korea has stressed the virtues of self-reliance, eschewing more robust ties with the outside world in favor of greater autonomy, even at significant cost to its economy.Founding leader Kim Il Sung championed this Korean-style autarky under the name Juche, and this ideology of self-reliance and national sovereignty found a recepti…

North Korea has refused nearly all diplomatic outreach since mid-2019, choosing instead to go full bore into weapons development while pledging never again to participate in denuclearization talks. But for Keith Luse of the National Committee on North Korea, this lack of engagement stems at least partly from Washington’s own policy oscillations. Lu…

North Korea has refused nearly all diplomatic outreach since mid-2019, choosing instead to go full bore into weapons development while pledging never again to participate in denuclearization talks.But for Keith Luse of the National Committee on North Korea, this lack of engagement stems at least partly from Washington’s own policy oscillations.Luse…

In the early 2000s, no one outside North Korea was quite sure about the extent of the country’s nuclear program, whether it had plutonium for an atomic bomb and if then-leader Kim Jong Il was willing to risk a nuclear test. That changed in 2004, when North Korea invited Siegfried Hecker, longtime chief of the […]…

In the early 2000s, no one outside North Korea was quite sure about the extent of the country’s nuclear program, whether it had plutonium for an atomic bomb and if then-leader Kim Jong Il was willing to risk a nuclear test.That changed in 2004, when North Korea invited Siegfried Hecker, longtime chief of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Me…

When North Korea invaded the South in 1950, it triggered a brutal three-year war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. But David Cheng Chang argues that the Korean War was in fact two separate conflicts. The first ended in 1951, when both the North and South Korean front lines became more or less […]…

When North Korea invaded the South in 1950, it triggered a brutal three-year war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. But David Cheng Chang argues that the Korean War was in fact two separate conflicts. The first ended in 1951, when both the North and South Korean front lines became more or less static. The second and far less …

North Korea celebrated the 75th anniversary of its army on Wednesday, revealing a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile and showing off more long-range missiles than ever before at a single event. Kim Jong Un’s young daughter was also front and center during the event and even accompanied her father to a pre-parade banquet. But the […]…

North Korea celebrated the 75th anniversary of its army on Wednesday, revealing a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile and showing off more long-range missiles than ever before at a single event.Kim Jong Un's young daughter was also front and center during the event and even accompanied her father to a pre-parade banquet.But the parade…

The Seoul metropolitan area is only around 30 miles from North Korea and would be a major attack point in most any conflict scenario. This puts some 25 million people — about half of South Korea’s entire population — at considerable risk. David Walsh and Andrew Gilholm have thought about risk scenarios and damage mitigation […]…

The Seoul metropolitan area is only around 30 miles from North Korea and would be a major attack point in most any conflict scenario. This puts some 25 million people — about half of South Korea’s entire population — at considerable risk.David Walsh and Andrew Gilholm have thought about risk scenarios and damage mitigation on the Korean Peninsula f…

Improving the lives of the North Korean people and ensuring they can exercise universal rights and liberties are among the most important tasks for international actors working in and with the country. But digging beneath the surface quickly reveals that humanitarianism and human rights are different spheres with significantly different approaches …

Improving the lives of the North Korean people and ensuring they can exercise universal rights and liberties are among the most important tasks for international actors working in and with the country. But digging beneath the surface quickly reveals that humanitarianism and human rights are different spheres with significantly different approaches …

Kim Kang-woo escaped North Korea in 2016, promising his widowed mother that he would raise the money needed to get her out too. But after brokers were unable to arrange her escape, he decided to take matters into his own hands, crossing the border back into North Korea to attempt a dramatic rescue that reads like something out of a movie script.Was…

Multiple North Korean drones entered ROK airspace and even breached a no-fly zone near the presidential office late last year, prompting Seoul to order its own unmanned aerial vehicle to cross the border and photograph a DPRK military facility.The Yoon administration’s stated eagerness to “punish” what it considers North Korean provocations has sig…

The NK News Podcast wants to hear from you! Fill out the listener survey at the following link for a chance to win a free 12-month subscription to NK News: CLICK HERE FOR SURVEYU.S.-North Korea relations have been stuck in place for the last two years, as other geopolitical developments seem to dominate Washington’s attention. But North Korea has n…

The number of North Korea books to choose from gets bigger every year, and it can be challenging to figure out where best to start. That’s where David Tizzard comes in. The Seoul-based university lecturer has reviewed several books for NK News and joins the podcast to share his favorites from the past year — as well as the ones to avoid.About the p…

Throughout this year, North Korea has repeatedly framed its weapons tests as simple reactions to U.S.-ROK efforts to restart military exercises and boost deterrence. It claims its long-range missile launches, sortie flybys, artillery drills and other military activities are necessary defensive moves against U.S. “hostile policy.”But Gordon Flake, C…

In 2019, the activist Adrian Hong led a daring raid on North Korea’s Embassy in Madrid, stealing hard drives and documents and apparently assaulting embassy staff.Initial news reports suggested that Free Joseon, Hong’s human rights activist group that advocates for overthrowing the Kim regime in Pyongyang, was behind the raid. But it soon became cl…

Tension remained elevated on the peninsula in November as North Korea continued an array of weapons tests, including its first successful launch of its largest nuclear-capable missile and dozens of other ballistic and artillery tests. But another development arguably garnered more attention than even the massive Hwasong-17: North Korean state media…

The U.S. and North Korea seem incapable of moving past the status quo, with neither side willing to concede to the other’s demands of either complete denuclearization, complete sanctions relief, or some combination of the two. The two countries haven’t spoken in years and appear no closer to a breakthrough despite several summits and other engageme…

For nearly 70 years, a delicate ceasefire has prevailed between the two Koreas through cycle after cycle of tensions. But the Korean War Armistice Agreement was never meant to last so long, nor did its architects envision it would ever be so widely applicable across the land, air and sea domains.John Burzynski spent 20 years as an international rel…

North Korea’s launch of a surface-to-air missile into waters south of the inter-Korean maritime border this month marked a major escalation in its recent missile testing campaign, inviting a tit-for-tat response from South Korea. The incident also raised a number of questions about the countries’ sea boundaries, from how far they extend into the oc…

North Korea set a new record last week when it launched at least 23 missiles in one day, including a short-range projectile that splashed down into waters south of the inter-Korean maritime border, and also sent an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) careening toward Japan.Pyongyang's attempts to frame these escalations as purely defensive me…

While officially communist, North Korea’s economy has been a strange hybrid of socialist and capitalist elements for decades now. Millions in the country rely on markets outside the state-planned economy for necessities and to make a living, and this has raised questions about how the DPRK could make the transition to a more capitalist economy — if…

At the age of 6, Monique Macias fled political turmoil in Equatorial Guinea and found refuge in Pyongyang, becoming not only one of the few foreigners to grow up there but doing so under the guardianship of founding leader Kim Il Sung.This week, Macias joins the NK News podcast to talk about her unique upbringing and about identity, culture and acc…

At the turn of the century, the markets were betting big on North Korea. The last holdout of the Cold War seemed to be on its last legs, and South Korea secured its first-ever summit in Pyongyang.Businessman Charles Thirlwall was part of the explosion of interest, representing a French company that probed business operations in the DPRK and visitin…

North Korea has resumed missile testing at a rapid pace in recent weeks, at times launching one or more ballistic missiles every other day. Leader Kim Jong Un even ordered the launch of a new type of intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, according to state media, while sending out hundreds of fighters and bomber jets for air strike drill…

Talks between the U.S. and North Korea have been stalled for years. During that time, Pyongyang has resumed ballistic missile testing and Seoul and Washington have restarted large-scale joint military drills. DPRK leader Kim Jong Un himself said he would never again participate in denuclearization talks.To Christine Ahn and Colleen Moore of Women C…

North Korea is one of the hardest targets for U.S. intelligence, and the country’s border closure since 2020 has only increased the difficulty. State propaganda remains one of the only ways to learn about the regime and what’s happening in the country.A former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, Soo Kim has been working to understand the K…

Growing up in an elite DPRK family, Seohyun Lee enjoyed privileges available to few other North Koreans. But that all changed during a study abroad trip to China, when she says a seemingly innocuous question from a taxi driver led to her “waking up from the matrix.” Then when a close friend of hers disappeared, she and her family were forced to esc…

North Korea is a small country, with a tiny economy and rigid political system, squeezed between much larger, richer nations. And yet its nuclear weapons allow it to dominate discourse about the region, give it a seat at the table with the U.S. and propel leader Kim Jong Un to front-page headlines. To Dr. Sung-Yoon Lee, assistant professor at the F…

In August, the U.S. and South Korea carried out large-scale field training exercises for the first time since 2018, while North Korea conducted a missile test for the first time in months. The DPRK declared “victory” over COVID-19 less than three months after reporting its first outbreak. And a South Korean man attacked the high-profile activist an…

How far should the U.S. go to protect its allies, and can South Korea do more to protect itself without outside help?Doug Bandow (@Doug_Bandow), a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, has spent decades considering this equation and has come to believe the U.S.-ROK alliance needs serious reimagination, starting with the withdrawal of U.S. troops fro…

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 …

Before the mid-1980s, North Korea and East Germany did not have the most robust relationship despite both being allies of the Soviet Union and their similar situations as the communist half of a divided country. That all changed when founding leader Kim Il Sung decided to host one of the largest events in North Korean history.In this episode of the…

July was a busy month on the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean government launched an investigation into the 2019 forced repatriation of two North Koreans. DPRK leader Kim Jong Un slammed ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol as a “military gangster.” And Pyongyang expressed willingness to send laborers to breakaway Ukrainian regions.This week, the NK News …

This week, NK News podcast host Jacco Zwetsloot returns to what some call “freedom’s frontier,” better known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, for a special travelogue episode.Ret. U.S. Lt. Col. Steve Tharp. Ret. ROK Col. Jee Hong-ki, NK News founder and CEO Chad O’Carroll join the tour of the less-visited central border re…

Threat dynamics on the Korean Peninsula are rapidly evolving. North Korea has proven extremely capable in cyberspace, compromising sensitive systems around the world and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency. The DPRK’s armed forces are also adopting unmanned aerial vehicles and developing hypersonic missiles that present new c…

As Sweden’s ambassador to South Korea from 2018 to 2021, Jakob Hallgren saw firsthand as the pendulum shifted from hope and optimism about the future of inter-Korean relations to pessimism and doubt about whether Seoul and Pyongyang could ever reconcile.This week, Hallgren joins the NK News podcast to discuss his country’s role in diplomacy on the …

June was a busy month on the Korean Peninsula. The leaders of the U.S., Japan and South Korea met for the first time in nearly five years as Tokyo and Seoul began to repair ties. North Korea blamed ‘alien things’ like anti-regime balloons for spreading COVID-19 into the country. And top DPRK military officials adopted a major military action plan t…

Growing up in Kobe, Park Hyangsu lived in a world apart from most of the Japanese people around her. At school, her teachers spoke Korean. In the classroom, portraits of North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il hung on the walls. For educational field trips, students traveled to the DPRK.This week, Park joins the NK News podcast to discuss …

When the war in Ukraine broke out earlier this year, Russian leader Vladimir Putin justified his country’s invasion as an effort to “denazify” its smaller neighbor, a striking claim given that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish. Moscow has also compared its “special military operation” to the fight against Nazi Germany in World War I…