North Korea News Podcast NK News

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is set to touch down in Pyongyang for a “friendly state visit” from June 18 to 19, according to the Kremlin. During his trip, Putin will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the pair may sign a “comprehensive strategic partnership.” 



NK News CEO Chad O’Carroll (@chadocl) joins the podcast to discuss what this partnership could entail, what else Putin and Kim could get up to during the Russian leader’s first visit to the DPRK in two decades and how China could interpret the trip. He also touches on the latest cross-border leafleting and Seoul’s temporary reactivation of loudspeaker broadcasts.



About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) 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.

Following a barrage of balloon launches across the inter-Korean border, North Korea analyst Daniel Pinkston joins the podcast to discuss why North Korea is sending trash South and how Seoul should respond. 



He also talks about how North Korea uses “digital authoritarianism” to control its citizens with technology, as well as the DPRK’s international arms trade and Pyongyang’s move away from reunification with the South. 



Daniel Pinkston (@dpinkston) is a lecturer in International Relations at Troy University and previously served as Northeast Asia deputy project director for the International Crisis Group in Seoul.



About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) 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.

North Korea bombarded the South with hundreds more waste-carrying balloons over the weekend, leading Seoul to set up loudspeakers along the border and carry out a propaganda broadcast for the first time since 2018.



Meanwhile, NK News analysis has found that the DPRK is clearing land inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at six different locations, likely in violation of the Korean War Armistice Agreement that prohibits military activity in the 2.5-mile border area.



NK News correspondent Ifang Bremer sits down in the studio to discuss the rapid pace of recent inter-Korean developments and how the DMZ construction may relate to Kim Jong Un’s call for the North to redefine its borders.



Editor’s note: This podcast was recorded before the ROK military announced on Tuesday that the North Korean military intruded across the inter-Korean land border on Sunday.



About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) 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.

When North Korea released a new song praising leader Kim Jong Un in April, the regime was likely not expecting it to go viral around the world. 



DPRK historian Peter Moody joins the podcast to discuss Pyongyang’s latest hit, the popularity of North Korean girl bands and how they are influenced by K-pop, representative works that offer insight into what the country was like at the time of their creation, and his favorite North Korean song.



Peter Moody is a PhD graduate of Columbia University and a research fellow at Sungkyunkwan University. He is a North Korea historian with research interests in ideology and music diplomacy who also follows contemporary trends in culture and domestic politics.



About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News.

North Korea has launched around 1,000 balloons toward the South since last week, each carrying around 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of waste, including cigarette butts and manure. 



NK News CEO Chad O’Carroll (@chadocl) and Senior Analytic Correspondent Colin Zwirko (@ColinZwirko) sit down in the studio to discuss the DPRK’s unusual launches and its anger at leafleting by ROK activists.



They talk about Kim Yo Jong’s snarky justification for the balloon barrage, Seoul’s warning that it could restart loudspeaker broadcasts along the border in retaliation and whether the latest episode in the two sides’ long-running dispute over leaflets could open the door for information warfare campaigns.



About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News.

North Korea failed this week to place a spy satellite into orbit for the third time in four attempts since last year, after a carrier rocket exploded shortly after a satellite launch on Monday night. NK News correspondent Shreyas Reddy joins the podcast to talk about what went wrong, and why the DPRK opted to use a new engine after achieving success with a different design last November.



Then, Ambassador Julie Turner sits down in the studio to discuss her work as the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues and why Washington is determined to have a dialogue with the DPRK about human rights.



She explains why she believes international scrutiny can help improve the human rights situation inside the DPRK, whether the U.S. should send information into the country and why she doesn’t take Pyongyang’s attacks on her background and work personally.



Julie Turner was sworn in as the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues on Oct. 13, 2023. A career civil service employee, she previously served as the office director in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Office of East Asia and the Pacific at the U.S. Department of State and previously was the director for Southeast Asia at the National Security Council.



About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) 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.