North Korea News Podcast by NK News

NK News
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The NK News Podcast is a weekly program covering all things North Korea: Discussion on the latest news, extended interviews with leading specialists, and insight from our own staff. We welcome both generalist and specialist audiences interested in knowing more about the Korean Peninsula. The full podcast is available to NK News subscribers.Sign up today at NK News

  1. 2d ago

    Russia bridge opens, Songdowon sanctions and North Korea’s forgotten UK insurer

    This week, NK News Data Correspondent Anton Sokolin joins the podcast to discuss the opening of the first new road bridge between North Korea and Russia, a project years in the making that gives the two countries their first direct vehicle crossing across the Tumen River.  Anton also breaks down how the project’s cost ballooned well beyond Russia’s original estimate, what procurement records reveal about the obscure contractor linked to Chechen business interests and why a botched Korean-language road sign became an interesting symbol of the project’s rushed rollout. Later, the conversation turns to Europe’s possible move to sanction North Korea’s Songdowon International Children’s Camp over allegations involving Ukrainian children transferred from Russian-controlled territory. Anton explains why the U.K.’s earlier designation triggered such a strong reaction from Pyongyang, how an EU move could further damage already limited DPRK-Europe ties and why the measure may carry more symbolic than practical weight. The episode concludes with a discussion about a previously unreported legal battle involving the Korea National Insurance Corporation, which won more than half a million euros in London arbitration against a Russian insurer only to fail to collect the money in Russian courts. Anton explains what the case reveals about North Korea’s once-substantial business presence in Europe and how corporate filings, court documents and procurement records can expose details of DPRK overseas activity that conventional reporting often misses. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

  2. Sep 2

    Sun Kim on documenting North Korean women, matchmaking and marriage

    “North South Man Woman” co-director Sun Kim returns to the NK News Podcast to discuss the five-year process of making the documentary, which follows North Korean defector Yoojin Han and her matchmaking agency connecting North Korean women with South Korean men. Kim explains how a chance encounter with longtime collaborator Morten Traavik in North Korea eventually led to the project, why Yoojin agreed to participate when other matchmakers declined and how the COVID-19 pandemic forced the filmmakers to rethink the documentary’s original focus on couples meeting and falling in love. The conversation explores how years of filming changed Kim’s relationships with Yoojin and the other women, the challenges of documenting marriage and intimacy and what Yoojin’s own relationship revealed about cultural differences, personal compatibility and the difficulties North Korean defectors can face while building new lives in South Korea. Kim also reflects on stereotypes surrounding North Korean women, the pressure some defectors feel to hide their accents and why the filmmakers sought to keep politics in the background — even as inter-Korean relations deteriorated and Pyongyang abandoned reunification as a national goal. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

  3. Aug 27

    Trump’s outreach, Seoul’s dilemma and lessons from decades inside the DPRK

    Korea Risk Group Correspondent Joon Ha Park joins this week’s podcast to discuss the latest signals from Pyongyang following President Donald Trump’s renewed outreach to Kim Jong Un and the decision to shorten the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercises from 11 days to five. He breaks down two recent statements from Kim Yo Jong, including her acknowledgment of the “excellent” personal relationship between Trump and her brother, while dismissing the reduced drills as insufficient. The conversation then turns to the wider implications of Trump’s willingness to alter major alliance exercises, including whether North Korea could seek further concessions affecting South Korean defense priorities such as wartime operational control transfer and Seoul’s plans for nuclear-powered submarines. In the second part of the episode, veteran journalist Mike Chinoy and humanitarian worker Kathi Zellweger discuss their new book, “Miss Kathi: Saving Lives in North Korea,” which draws on Zellweger’s 75 trips to the DPRK and five years living in Pyongyang. They reflect on the famine of the 1990s, the difficulty of getting outsiders to understand the scale of the crisis and why predictions that hardship would bring down the North Korean system repeatedly proved wrong. They also explore the enduring debate over humanitarian access and aid monitoring, how repeated visits allowed Kathi to document the gradual rise of markets and other social changes and why they hope the book will encourage readers to see North Koreans not simply through the lens of nuclear weapons, diplomacy or the ruling family. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

  4. Aug 19

    Trump courts Kim again, US-ROK drills shrink and a more confident North Korea

    Donald Trump is once again reaching out to Kim Jong Un, praising their personal relationship, calling for a reduction in U.S.-South Korea military exercises and claiming the North Korean leader has responded “very positively.” This week, NK News Lead Correspondent Shreyas Reddy joins the podcast to unpack what Trump actually said, how closely it resembles his 2018 diplomacy playbook and why the U.S. president may be turning toward North Korea again. He also discusses Washington and Seoul’s decision to cut the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise from 11 days to five after Trump’s directive, as well as what the abrupt change could mean for alliance cohesion.  Later, Shreyas explains why Kim would enter any renewed diplomacy from a much stronger position than he did in 2018 and looks at why U.S. strikes on Iran have further reinforced North Korea’s rejection of denuclearization. The episode concludes with the possible ways Pyongyang could respond to Trump’s overtures and the risk that renewed leader-to-leader diplomacy could leave South Korea on the sidelines.  About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

  5. Aug 12

    Buried missile facilities, mystery telecom site and North Korea’s naval buildup

    Jeongmin Kim hosts this week’s NK News Podcast and is joined by Senior Analytic Correspondent Colin Zwirko to discuss a series of recent satellite imagery investigations into North Korea’s military infrastructure, beginning with an unusual new facility at a factory producing short-range ballistic missiles supplied to Russia. Colin explains why North Korea built and then buried the structure, what its location may suggest about safety or security requirements and how recent missile activity could relate to Pyongyang’s evolving battlefield experience from the war in Ukraine. The conversation then turns to a large new complex beside Pyongyang’s international telecommunications station, where 17 circular structures could eventually support satellite dishes used for communications or monitoring foreign broadcasts. Later, he breaks down the severe flooding near a major military facility in Shingae before looking at renewed construction at a long-stalled naval base north of Wonsan, as North Korea builds larger warships without suitable facilities to host them. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

  6. Aug 5

    Jerome Sauvage on North Korea’s crises, contradictions and quiet moments

    Former U.N. official Jerome Sauvage joins this week’s podcast to discuss his new book, Witness to North Korea: Three Years on the Ground in the DPRK, which recounts his posting in Pyongyang from late 2009 to early 2013. He explains why he accepted one of the U.N.’s most difficult assignments and what it took to reopen the U.N. Development Programme office after its 2007 closure amid allegations over financial controls and sanctions evasion. The conversation explores North Korea’s failed 2009 currency redenomination, the gap between Pyongyang and the impoverished countryside and what census data, cooperative farms and the public distribution system revealed about chronic food insecurity and the growing importance of markets. Sauvage also reflects on living in North Korea during the sinking of the Cheonan warship and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, as well as attending Kim Jong Il’s official wake and observing the fear, grief and uncertainty surrounding Kim Jong Un’s rise to power. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

  7. Jul 29

    North Korean troops for Russia, a new Seoul strategy and the ‘Hero of Panmunjom’

    NK News Correspondent Joon Ha Park joins this week’s podcast to discuss Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s claim that Russia has requested another 30,000 North Korean troops for its war against Ukraine. He explains how realistic a deployment of that size would be, why Russia may be preparing facilities in the Voronezh region and whether DPRK personnel are more likely to serve in logistics, reconstruction and rear-area security than in direct frontline combat. The conversation then turns to South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young’s declaration that Seoul is shifting from a “denuclearization first” approach to a “peace first” strategy. Joon Ha breaks down why experts view the announcement as a change in sequencing rather than a fundamental policy reversal, and why North Korea currently has little incentive to respond. In the second half of the episode, he looks back at the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement and explains why South Korea was not among its signatories, how the ceremonies at Panmunjom and Munsan unfolded and why Seoul’s absence still affects peace diplomacy today. He also recounts the remarkable life of Choe Tok Sin, the South Korean general known as the “Hero of Panmunjom” who later served as foreign minister, fell out with Park Chung-hee and defected to North Korea.  About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

  8. Jul 23

    Rudiger Frank on North Korea’s hidden middle class: North Korea Unpacked

    This month, Dr. Rüdiger Frank joins North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot to discuss how decades of marketization have transformed North Korea’s economy and society, and why old assumptions about engagement and pressure may no longer apply. He talks about the emergence of what he describes as a sizable North Korean middle class, how smartphones, private wealth and limited consumer choices point to deeper social change, and why leader Kim Jong Un may be a reluctant reformer forced to manage economic realities he did not create. He also explains why money is increasingly trapped inside North Korea, how projects like Wonsan-Kalma may be designed to absorb domestic spending and why Pyongyang could be moving toward something resembling a developmental dictatorship. Dr. Rüdiger Frank is professor of East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna and one of Europe’s foremost experts on North Korea. He studied at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang from 1991-1992, and has spent decades researching North Korea’s political economy, economic transformation and international relations. About the podcast: North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot is a monthly long-form interview series from the NK News Podcast, featuring in-depth conversations with experts and specialists on North Korea. The regular weekly NK News Podcast, hosted by Alannah Hill, continues to cover the latest developments in the North Korea news cycle.

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The NK News Podcast is a weekly program covering all things North Korea: Discussion on the latest news, extended interviews with leading specialists, and insight from our own staff. We welcome both generalist and specialist audiences interested in knowing more about the Korean Peninsula. The full podcast is available to NK News subscribers.Sign up today at NK News

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