As North Korea's State Poet Laureate, Jang Jin-sung led a charmed life. With food provisions, a travel pass, access to strictly censored information and audiences with Kim Jong-il himself, his life in Pyongyang seemed safe and secure. But this privileged existence was about to b…
What happens when a dictator wins absolute power and isolates a nation from the outside world? North Korea's Kim Jong Il made himself into a living god, surrounded by lies and flattery and beyond criticism. As over two million of his subjects starved to death, he lived in palace…
North Korea's Institutional Politics defy traditional political models, making the country's actions seem surprising or confusing when, in fact, they often conform to the regime's own logic. Drawing on recent materials, such as North Korean speeches, commentaries, and articles, …
Review: "Judging from media reports, North Korea is the country Americans love to hate. A charter member of Bush's "Axis of Evil" whose leader, Kim Jong Il, is routinely described as "insane" and "diabolical" and a self-proclaimed alternative to neo-liberalism and globalization,…