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NPR Morning Edition’s David Greene interviews Marcus Noland to discuss the recent reappointment of Pak Pong Ju as Premier of North Korea. Having been out of office since 2007, his return to the Premiership could be a modest signal toward economic reform, though how that squares with North Korea’s increasingly bellicose foreign policy remains to [...]
The recent round of rhetorical escalation between North Korea, South Korea and the US crested just as two political gatherings were convening: a plenum of the Workers’ Party Central Committee and the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), the country’s legislature. Both are top-down bodies that are used not to deliberate, but to propagate: to hand out [...]
A series of meetings and statements since the successful satellite and nuclear tests suggests that a new ideological line is taking shape in North Korea. We are looking for an appropriate label. “Missiles and Nuclear Weapons First Policy” comes to mind, but it is a little inelegant. We have decided on “Songun Mark 2.0.” At [...]
We recently noted the pattern of missile test, UN condemnation, DPRK indignation, provocation, which seems set to repeat itself. But this cycle overlaps with the succession and an effort by the new leadership to lay down some ideological markers. Moreover, some of these recent statements seem to escalate an already over-the-top rhetoric, particularly toward the [...]
Last week, we analyzed the major Party Conference that took place in April, an important political prelude to the celebration of Kim Il Sung’s 100th birthday on April 15. If the 2010 Party Conference was the introduction and designation of Kim Jong Un, the 2012 conclave was the coronation. There was absolutely no ambiguity, no [...]
