VALERIA GURROLA WRITES — Jang Yeong-jin has found love as a gay man nearly twenty-five years after his escape from North Korea. He first made international headlines in 2015 with A Mark of Red Honor’s release, his memoir about living as an openly gay defector in South Korea. In the…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: SPECTER OF SEXUALITY
TOM PLATE WRITES — Minari is both the name for a celery-like herbal plant and the title of a wonderful new Korean-American movie that is stealing people’s hearts and winning major recognition. The plant is also a symbolic plot point that is as rich in the movie as the real-life…
Full Article KOREAN PENINSULA: KEY ROLE FOR AN OUTSIDE (LADY) MEDIATOR?
VALERIA GURROLA WRITES – Nuclear Orientalism deeply permeates US media. In December 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned the US of a “Christmas gift” dependent on the outcome of nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration. Days after the announcement, satellite images uncovered new activity at the previously dormant Sohae…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: NUCLEAR ORIENTALISM AND THE HERMIT KINGDOM
MOON CHUNG-IN WRITES — While it doesn’t appear that the Joe Biden administration has completed its review of North Korea policy yet, the outlines of that policy seem to be slowly taking shape. Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said on Feb. 12 that the North Korean…
Full Article KOREAN PENINSULA: HOPES AND FEARS ABOUT BIDEN’S NORTH KOREAN POLICY
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — This year, the best-selling North Korean novel Friend was translated into English and approved for publication in the US by the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea – a first in that nation’s history. Immanuel Kim, 42, professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies at George…
Full Article KOREA: ARE WOMEN’S RIGHTS, NORTH AND SOUTH, AN OPEN BOOK ON THE LITERARY LANDSCAPE?
(This is the fifth in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea whose work has started to reach English language readers via superb translations.) ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Thirty-eight years. That’s how long it took for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to approve, for publication in…
Full Article DIVORCE, NORTH KOREAN STYLE
EMILY CAPOUYA WRITES — According to a United Nations confidential report, North Korea has violated resolutions made with the United Nations Security Council by continuing to enhance its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons program. Recently, a summary of the report was submitted to the UN Security Council. Six sections of…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: FOOLING AROUND WITH THOSE UN SANCTIONS
(The following is the most recent analysis of the North Korean impasse by the special advisor on this issue to the president of South Korea) MOON CHUNG-IN WRITES — A Dec. 31 deadline passed without Pyongyang delivering to the United States its threatened “Christmas gift” if Washington didn’t alter its…
Full Article North Korea: WHY CHAIRMAN KIM THINKS THE WAY HE DOES
TRISHA CURRY WRITES – An increasingly asked question these days: Whom do economic sanctions hurt the most? Take the case of North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – DPRK). This troubled nation of 25 million is dangerously close to a return to its dismal economic status of 1997 – one of…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: HOW IN THE WORLD DID KIM JONG UN GET THAT NEW LIMO?
SENAY EMMANUEL WRITES – On June 30th, 2019, US President Donald Trump met with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas. With that, Trump became the first sitting US president to visit the isolated country. This symbolic gesture made for an incredible photo…
Full Article TRUMP DIPLOMACY: HOW UNREAL IS THIS LATEST ‘DIPLOMATIC’ REALITY SHOW?
[Editor’s Note] – The rise of a new global power has often led to hegemonic wars. In the following essay, Prof. Graham Allison discusses how the rise of China might affect the Korean Peninsula and offers his insights on the possibility of a second Korea war. An earlier version of…
Full Article SHADOWS OF WAR: ARE THE TWO KOREAS THE CORINTH AND KORCYA OF OUR TIME?
PATRICK POLESHUK WRITES- If the recent Trump-Kim summit has told us anything about North Korea’s relationship with the U.S, it is that the two leaders appear to be on separate wavelengths. The summit’s location in Hanoi, Vietnam, while comfortable and convenient for both Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un, was not…
Full Article North Korea: Ready for Economic Reform?
(FROM THE EDITORS OF ASIA MEDIA: THIS COLUMN APPEARED ONE WEEK BEFORE THE SINGAPORE SUMMIT, IN THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)– BY TOM PLATE: Next week, it now seems, the American President will be in Singapore, along with the North Korean leader. Both are famously quirky. Is Lee worried? We…
Full Article SINGAPORE: SUDDENLY (?) SUCH A SINGULAR PIVOTAL GEOPOLITICAL SPOT ON THE WORLD SCENE
TABITHA THEARD WRITES — Rice, water bottles, and bicycle tubes are not usually seen as political statements, but in South Korea, activists are using these items to inspire hope and encourage more North Koreans to become defectors and flee their country. According to Fars Ghani from Aljazeera, approximately 31,000 North…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: Defector Using Rice-Filled Water Bottles to Assist Future Defectors
EMILY CARMAN WRITES – North Korea withdrew its participation from a pre-Olympic intercultural event set to take place on Monday, February 4. The event would have combined popular artists from the North and South, and was set to take place at the Mt. Kumgang Resort in North Korea, a location…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: BACKS OUT OF PRE-OLYMPIC EVENT
DIANA JABLONSKI WRITES – Malaysia’s high-profile trial on the murder of Kim Jong Nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has resumed. Two women, 25-year-old Indonesian Siti Aisyah and 29-year-old Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, were charged with the alleged murder, caused by a chemical substance known as the…
Full Article MALAYSIA: MAHB CLEARED FROM LEAKING ALLEGED ATTACK ON KIM JONG NAM