North Korea News Podcast NK News

Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in released a lengthy memoir this week focusing on his foreign and defense policies and diplomacy with North Korea. NK News News Trainee Joe Smith shares what Moon revealed in his new book, as well as why two more World Cup qualifiers have been relocated from Pyongyang and North Korea’s display of new portraits of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin for the first time in a decade.



Then, journalist Yang Chien-hao joins the podcast to discuss what stories related to North Korea pique the interest of Taiwanese readers, the similarities and differences between China and Taiwan’s relationship and North and South Korea’s relationship and what Taiwan and North Korea have in common. 



Yang Chien-hao (@yangchienhao) is a Taiwanese journalist and columnist based in Seoul, South Korea. He is a freelance journalist for TVBS and Taiwan’s public television service. 



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.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held his first comprehensive press conference in 21 months last week, during which he discussed Seoul’s relationship with Moscow despite Russia’s burgeoning ties with North Korea. NK News Lead Correspondent Jeongmin Kim (@jeongminnkim) joins the podcast to discuss more of what Yoon had to say, as well as a balloon launch aimed at sending anti-regime leaflets and USB flash drives loaded with K-pop toward North Korea.



Then, Benjamin Joinau, a French cultural anthropologist specializing in Korean studies, discusses the comprehensive database of North Korean feature films he recently published. 



The database, which Joinau describes as a work in progress, comprises some 800 North Korean feature films that are categorized using the DPRK’s own classifications and aims to offer historical contextualization of the country’s movies. 



​Benjamin Joinau is a doctor of Cultural Anthropology specializing in Korean Studies. He is an associate researcher at the Center of Korean Studies (CRC) at School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris, and an assistant professor at Hongik University, 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.

In recent weeks, the mandate of the U.N. Panel of Experts tasked with monitoring the implementation of sanctions against North Korea expired. Evidence emerged that the DPRK is phasing out the use of the term “Day of the Sun” to refer to Kim Il Sung’s birthday. The regime released a new song praising Kim Jong Un. And new data from Seoul’s unification ministry showed that defector numbers remain low.



Christopher Green of Leiden University joins the NK News team in the studio to discuss these developments and the biggest North Korea-related stories from the last month.  



This week’s episode features the following members of the NK News team:



NK News Founder Chad O’Carroll (@chadocl)

Seoul Correspondent Shreyas Reddy (@shreyas_k_reddy) 



Christopher Green (@Dest_Pyongyang) is an assistant professor of Korean studies at Leiden University and the Korean Peninsula Analyst at International Crisis Group. 



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 Korean trade with its top economic partner China rebounded in March to nearly $160 million, in the latest sign of strength in bilateral exchange. NK News Data Correspondent Anton Sokolin joins the podcast to discuss what we can learn from China’s officials trade data, as well as Moscow’s plan to send some 40 zoo animals to Pyongyang.



Then, Sojin Lim at the University of Central Lancashire discusses sustainable development in North Korea and why the DPRK complies with some international norms while shunning others.



Dr. Sojin Lim is a reader in Asia Pacific studies with special reference to Korea at the University of Central Lancashire. She leads the MA North Korean Studies course and is co-director of the International Institute of Korean Studies at the university’s School of Psychology and Humanities. 



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 Korean leader Kim Jong Un led a salvo missile launch to test the country’s “Nuclear Trigger’ system” for the first time this week. NK News Deputy Managing Editor Alannah Hill (@alannahmhill) sits down in the studio to discuss the test, as well as the release of a new song praising the country’s “friendly father” and allegations that DPRK animators may have had a hand in a popular Amazon Prime show.



Then, North Korea analyst Jacob Bogle joins the podcast to discuss his work on the AccessDPRK blog, which maps the DPRK using open-source satellite imagery. He explains how he aims to focus on areas that other analysts overlook and uncover trends that can reveal more about the lives of everyday North Koreans.



Bogle also talks about some of his most exciting finds and how he turns imagery into a narrative for stories on NK Pro, including on North Korea’s expansion of its coastal fencing and a fence being built around Pyongyang. 



Jacob Bogle (@JacobBogle) has been a North Korea analyst since 2013 and runs the AccessDPRK blog. He is also a certified architectural drafter and pharmacy technician. 



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.

With the end of the U.N. Panel of Experts on North Korea fast approaching, NK News founder Chad O’Carroll (@chadocl) sits down in the studio to discuss the pros and cons of four alternative ways that like-minded countries could continue to monitor enforcement of the DPRK sanctions regime.



Then, retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Trimble joins the podcast to discuss his time negotiating with North Koreans at Panmunjom in a bid to regularize general meetings, as well as his role in the establishment of a General Officer crisis management dialogue channel with the DPRK. 



Trimble first came to the peninsula as part of the U.S. Forces Korea in the early 1990s before being assigned to the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission in 1997.



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.