Mansfield Foundation Executive Director Gordon Flake discusses the complexities of China’s role in dealing with North Korea. Though stating concern about North Korea's nuclear and missile development and having hosted the Six Party Talks, over the past year and half China has backed more visibly the DPRK regime—even in the face of last year’s provocations. How does this step-up in support impact the United States and South Korea? What are… Read More

Marcus Noland, deputy director and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, addresses The Korea Society on his and Professor Stephan Haggard’s study of surveys conducted in China and South Korea of North Korean refugees. Their work both illuminates the plight of the refugees and explores the implications for North Korea’s ongoing internal transformation. Noland, deputy director and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, discusses the survey findings and his new… Read More

What is the current trajectory of U.S.-DPRK relations? Should denuclearization continue to be the central focus of U.S. approach? Joining us for this next installment of The Korea Society’s highly popular Knowing North Korea series, Dr. Patrick M. Cronin, Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), speaks from his groundbreaking paper suggesting change. Cronin served prior as the… Read More

On June 9, 2009, Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth, Special Representative for North Korea Policy, addressed members and supporters of The Korea Society at the organization's annual dinner in New York City. Ambassador Bosworth is introduced by Evans J.R. Revere, the president of The Korea Society. Read More

Feast or Famine features 23 original posters from the Katharina Zellweger Collection. Zellweger collected over 100 posters during her tenure as the director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation program in Pyongyang from 2006 to 2011. This selection, rarely seen outside of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, centers around issues related to agriculture, animal husbandry, and food production. Created for a domestic audience and produced by government-run… Read More

What is it like to serve as one’s national representative in North Korea? How is one received, from leaders to ordinary North Koreans? How does one deal with the political fallout of a nuclear test soon after one’s arrival? How free is a foreign emissary to travel and see the “real” North Korea and its residents? The Korea Society welcomes as part of its ongoing Knowing North Korea series the… Read More

What is it like to be posted in Pyongyang? What are the limitations and opportunities of reporting from a closed state? What are myths or where are hidden truths? The second installment of this summer’s Knowing North Korea series features Ivan Zakharchenko, United Nations Bureau Chief for RIA-Novosti. Zakharchenko was posted to Pyongyang for a half-decade and enjoyed unique exposure given Russia’s special relationship with North Korea. He writes broadly… Read More

What is the current state of malnutrition in North Korea and need for food? How should the international community respond? What measures are in place to make certain that food goes to those in need? Should nutritional assistance come with progress in negotiations or other openings? This fourth and final installment of this summer’s Knowing North Korea series features the head of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in… Read More

The Korea Society continues its Knowing North Korea series covering economy and investment; nuclear and other security issues; refugees; NGOs and humanitarian affairs; energy, agriculture, and infrastructure development; and the roles of the international community. This 2012 installment begins with lessons in humanitarian affairs and suggestions for more constructive international involvement by Stanford University Pantech Fellow Katharina Zellweger, who has visited North Korea more than fifty times Knowing North Korea:… Read More

Author and journalist Blaine Harden speaks about his remarkable and harrowing account of refugee Shin Dong-hyuk’s birth into and eventual escape from the North Korean gulag. A monumental and moving book, Harden reveals the hardships of prison life and provides a lasting testimony to the endurance of the human spirit. This literary event features a special display of refugee artwork. Book Cafe: Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey… Read More