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 seen outside the former Eastern Bloc. Cinema in the DPRK is an... Read More

A Panel Discussion When the New York Philharmonic became the first American orchestra to play in North Korea on February 26, 2008, decades worth of Cold War reality was stood on its head. With the stars and stripes standing on stage, the 1500 North Koreans in the audience stood at attention as the musicians launched into America's national anthem. A month later, four of those who orchestrated and covered the concert-Zarin Mehta, president and executive director of the New York Philharmonic; Daniel Wakin,... Read More

When assessing the impact of the mid-1990s famine on the North Korean population, experts have been working on an assumption: that North Koreans living in the country's breadbasket provinces were relatively better nourished than those in other provinces. Though a reasonable premise, Hazel Smith, professor of international relations at Warwick University and author of Hungry for Peace: International Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Social Change in North Korea, has researched reams of data and found that... Read More

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) executive director Greg Scarlatoiu and Bush Institute senior fellow Victor Cha joined senior director Stephen Noerper for a discussion of human rights in North Korea and its placement on the Biden administration’s new policy agenda. The event marks the anniversary of the historic UN Commission of Inquiry report release. This program is made possible thanks to support from the Korea Foundation.   Human Rights and North Korea: Honoring the Anniversary of the... Read More

Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy Scott Snyder joins Senior Director Stephen Noerper to discuss next steps on denuclearization and dialogue with North Korea post-US Presidential election. Snyder, author of South Korea at the Crossroads, weighs the likelihood of a North Korean test or other attention-grabber pre or post-inauguration, the dispositions of Washington, Seoul and Pyongyang, and the possibility of renewed talks.   Next Steps with North... Read More