February 7, 2016 Intl Reaction to North Korea's Missile Launch Stephen E. Noerper A month and a day after conducting its fourth nuclear test, North Korea launched a multi-stage rocket carrying a 440-pound satellite. The launch of the Taepodong missile from the Tongchang-ri site, near the North’s border with China, on a clear winter Sunday morning on 7 February was another defiant and provocative action, closely following the North’s four… Read More

January 6, 2016 North Korea Nuclear TestStephen E. Noerper On January 6, the DPRK tested what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb and a 5.1 seismic event was detected along the northeast coast, some thirty miles from the site of previous nuclear tests. Earlier, on December 10, Kim Jong Un bragged of North Korea having “a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb,” and in his New Year address railed against “invasive outsiders… Read More

Sylvia Kim, a human rights lawyer and policy advisor with the European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea, offers an overview of the international legal framework aimed at protecting stateless persons and explains the plight of the stateless children born to North Korean refugees in China.     Invisible Children:The Stateless Children of North Korean Refugees  Sylvia Kim     Policy Advisor, European Alliance for Human Rights  In Conversation With… Read More

Robert Boynton, Director at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, discusses his new book, The Invitation-Only Zone: The True Story of North Korea’s Abduction Project, a thoroughly researched investigative report of the systematic abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents. Invitation-only zones were guarded communities for Japanese abducted by North Korean spies from the late 1970s to early 80s. Boynton’s book is a balance of… Read More

Kang Cheol Hwan, author of Aquariums of Pyongyang and Sejun Park former DPRK refugee working for the North Korea Strategy Center, a Seoul-based NGO, spoke to the topic of information access for North Koreans and current efforts to share information with the DPRK citizenry on human rights and democracy. North Korea and Information Access with Kang Cheol Hwan NKSC President and Author of 'Aquariums of Pyongyang' Sejun Park  CEO of North Korea Strategy Center… Read More

NEW YORK, August 25, 2015 – On 24 August the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) reached an agreement after three days of high-level negotiations to defuse tensions after Thursday’s rocket and artillery volley, which followed on August 4 landmine explosions south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The North expressed “regret” over the two South Korean soldiers maimed by the explosions, and South Korea… Read More

In 2011, Jean Lee became the first American reporter granted permission to work as a journalist in North Korea, and a year later opened AP's Pyongyang bureau, making the news agency the first and only U.S. news outlet with an office in the North Korean capital. Lee, who now serves as a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., shares photos and videos of homes, factories, schools… Read More

  South Korean films continue to set box-office records across Asia and win laurels in international film festivals. Meanwhile, little attention is given to the cinema from the other half of the peninsula. From May 12 to 14, 2008, three films from the DPRK’s canon will be screened as a special presentation in the Classic Movie Night series. The films—Hong Gil Dong, Bellflower, and My Look in the Distant Future—have been rarely… Read More

Katharina Zellweger, former North Korea country director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, discussed current research on the issue of people with disabilities in North Korean society. Ms. Zellweger, who first visited the DPRK over 20 years ago, worked in North Korea from 2006-2011 on humanitarian aid and development assistance. People with Disabilities in a Changing North Korea with Katharina Zellweger, former North Korea Country Director for the Swiss… Read More

Knowing North Korea is a multi-part, multi-year series, showcasing social science research and scholarly findings to better understand the complexities surrounding North Korea. The Korea Society has hosted analysts, academics, journalists, aid workers, and refugees discussing North Korea. Read More