Analysis by Peter Makowsky, Jenny Town and Samantha Pitz Background At first glance, North Korea’s mountainous terrain and numerous riverine systems would seem ideal for hydroelectric power production, and it was the vision of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong …
Art reception to discuss the context and stories of a series of portraits “A Long Separation” exhibited at the Stimson Center. Artist, Laura Elizabeth Pohl, explains her inspiration and stories she found moving of families that were divided from loved …
Published October 11, 2019 / Held October 21, 2019
A 38 North exclusive with analysis by Jack Liu, Peter Makowsky and Jenny Town Recent commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s Sinpo South Shipyard from August 26 and September 23 indicates that construction continues on a new ballistic missile sub …
The intensifying theme of great power competition between the U.S. and China has major implications for the Korean Peninsula, its future unification and the U.S. alliance system in Northeast Asia. Most directly, China could be even more reluctant to ch …
Published September 20, 2019 / Held October 2, 2019
In January 2018, weeks before the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, North and South Korea merged their women’s ice hockey teams into one, scraping together teammates of Korean descent from all over the world. Join the Stimson Center and the Council …
Published September 19, 2019 / Held October 9, 2019
Trump says Bolton a ‘disaster’ on North Korea, ‘out of line’ on Venezuela WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that John Bolton, dismissed a day earlier as national security adviser, had been a “disaster” on North Korea …
Throughout the diplomatic process between South and North Korea and the Trump administration’s nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang, there has been an expectation that should sanctions be relaxed or removed, North Korea would begin to attract investments f …
With apologies to T.S. Eliot, August was the cruelest month. US-DPRK working-level talks did not begin, as most observers expected, after US-ROK joint military exercises ended on August 20. For a variety of reasons, the diplomatic window seems to be na …
North Korea Missile Tests, ‘Very Standard’ to Trump, Show Signs of Advancing Arsenal As North Korea fired off a series of missiles in recent months — at least 18 since May — President Trump has repeatedly dismissed their importance as short-range and “ …
In an attempt to address the country’s electrical energy needs, the DPRK is placing greater emphasis on the construction and utilization of both hydroelectric and coal-powered, thermal-electric power plants. To date, most of that observed growth has be …
WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Kim Jong Un told him he was ready to resume talks on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and would stop missile testing as soon as U.S.-South Korea military exercises …
A 38 North exclusive with analysis by Frank V. Pabian, Jack Liu and Jenny Town Commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center through late July indicates operations have likely continued at the Uranium Enrichm …
Eavesdropping and network security were the top concerns of the North Korean government in the months before Koryolink, the country’s current mobile network service, was launched in December 2008, according to minutes of a May 28, 2008 meeting in Kuala …
A 38 North exclusive with analysis by Frank V. Pabian, Jack Liu and Jenny Town Recent commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center indicates that operations at the Uranium Enrichment Plant (UEP) remain ongoi …
Analysis by Peter Makowsky, Jenny Town and Samantha Pitz Background Coal and hydropower are the two main sources of power in North Korea, however, hydropower accounts for the majority of the country’s actual electricity production.[1] During the K …
With his visit to the Demilitarized Zone, the president is opening the door for real negotiations. President Trump’s 50-minute-long meeting on Sunday with Kim Jong-un, leader of North Korea, in the Korean Peninsula’s Demilitarized Zone was, i …
North Korea’s environmental problems have not garnered nearly as much attention as its nuclear and missile programs, signature construction projects or vague commitments to improving the economy, but it is an area that has seen the most interesting dev …
Compared to China and Japan, access to educational opportunities about the two Koreas are noticeably limited in the United States. There has historically been no curriculum about Korea in primary or secondary schools outside of some coverage of the Kor …
Chinese President Xi Jinping may be offering up to 100,000 tons of food in humanitarian aid to North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un ahead of a historic visit later this week. Both Chinese and North Korea state-run media announced Xi’s state visit—th …
The debate roiling the leadership in Pyongyang is in its fourth week and appears to have heated up. That the Chinese leader Xi Jinping should go to North Korea in the middle of this tense situation is extraordinary and suggests a level of concern that …
Since mid-May, there have been signs of a high-level policy discussion in Pyongyang over how to proceed with diplomatic engagement with Washington. On one hand, there has been a positive shift in DPRK commentary on US-DPRK negotiations both from the No …
North Korea’s food situation is confusing. The World Food Program (WFP) and the North Korean government have effectively conveyed the message to the world that major food shortages and, some say, perhaps even a famine, are at hand. Pyongyang as we …
A 38 North exclusive with analysis by Peter Makowsky and Jenny Town The Wonsan beach resort is one of Kim Jong Un’s signature projects, as part of an effort to transform the Wonsan region into a world-class tourist destination and the prime spot for su …
This article is a reprint of Joel Wit and Richard Sokolsky’s op-ed originally published in The National Interest on May 19, 2019. It is reprinted by 38 North with kind permission. Dear President Donald Trump, The United States and North Korea …
Jenny Town, cofounder and managing editor of 38 North, is one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People of 2019. When President Trump emerged from his Singapore summit with Kim Jong-un last June and announced that North Korea had offered to dismantle one …
Dear President Donald Trump, The United States and North Korea are once again locked in a diplomatic standoff over denuclearization and the normalization of U.S.-North Korean relations, which has unfortunately brought to a screeching halt the very prom …
A newly tested North Korean short-range ballistic missile appears to be a copy of an advanced Russian design that could greatly improve Pyongyang’s ability to evade U.S. missile defense systems, according to U.S. officials. President Trump, who has sou …
WASHINGTON – U.S. authorities have seized one of North Korea’s largest cargo ships in connection with a scheme to illicitly export tons of coal in violation of international sanctions, Justice Department officials said Thursday. The 17,061-to …