The World and Me

Sara Stevenson

This podcast explores Christian apologetics through broader lenses. We want to examine the big questions of life through the rationality of the Christian faith as well as through stories and lived experience. We aim to bring ideas, people and places together in the same place! 

  1. Aug 7

    North Korea Opens Door Of Regime?

    Paul McCabe returns to press Sara Stevenson on North Korea's decision to send thousands of soldiers to Russia. Could this be a crack to the closed regime?  Sara has been studying this war and has focused on this particular aspect which examines how and why North Korean soldiers are fighting for Russia and what the significance of this could be. Sara and Paul also discuss what life is like in North Korea and how the regime functions. Some sources to check out: Chatham House - www.chathamhouse.org - 'North Korea and Russia's dangerous partnership.' 2024. Chatham House - www.chathamhouse.org - 2026 - Russia preparing to receive as many as 30,000 new North Korean. Benzinga Newswires, 2024. Southfield: Accretive Capital. ‘North Korean Soldiers transported by ships to Port Vladiovstok’.  (Details NK troops being transported by ship from the Wonsan region of North Korea to Vladiovstok and then transported to multiple training sites in eastern Russia, fighting in Kursk Oblast). Carlough, Molly, 2025, ‘The Meaning and Significance of North Korean Troops Deployment to Russia. How North Korea Has Bolstered Russia’s War in Ukraine.’ RUSI Report. CE Noticias Financieras, English ed, Miami, 10 Dec 2024, ‘US Reveals that North Korea exchanges soldiers for Russian fighter jets for war against Ukraine.’   CE Noticias Financieras, ‘North Korean soldiers thought they would face South Korean forces in the Ukraine war’. (Disinformation adding to cognivite dissonance for their insurgency mobilisation). Park, Sokeel J. Dec 17th 2019, ‘Songbun/Social Class In A Socialist Paradise’. Liberty In North Korea. (The elite ‘Core’ class given most privileges with jobs, education etc, the top 28% per cent of the population amongst three classes). Sojin, Lim, 2023, ‘International Aid and Sustainable Development in North Korea: A Country Left Behind with Cloaked Society. Oxford: Taylor and Francis. (Details some marketisation reforms within NK due to the 1990s famine but limited by NK’s information control. The regime has survived due to cyber warfare such as obtaining cryptocurrency as well as reliance on China to bypass some sanctions).

About

This podcast explores Christian apologetics through broader lenses. We want to examine the big questions of life through the rationality of the Christian faith as well as through stories and lived experience. We aim to bring ideas, people and places together in the same place!