North Korea

The construction boom in Pyongyang, along with other indicators of improved economic performance such as food production and foreign trade, provide further evidence of the ineffectiveness of current economic sanctions. The North Korean economy appears to be beating sanctions thanks to Chinese aid and trade, as well as the reallocation of conventional defense spending to the civilian economy.

"The purpose of this analysis is to provide an overview of the North Korean situation in order to design effective mission strategies among the North Korean people.  This analysis will provide a summary overview of the current North Korean culture, current missionary work, and possible strategies for the future.  Due to the intense suspicion of foreigners and extreme resistance to religious activity, missionaries will have to rely heavily on political, social, and humanitarian methods in order to evangelize the North Korean people" (taken from the introduction).

Résumé :
Le dimanche 7 février 2016, la Corée du nord procédait à un tir, annoncé comme un lancement d’un satellite d’observation Kwangmyongsong-4, depuis le site de lancement de Sohae . Proclamé comme un succès par le pays, le satellite serait sur une orbite de 494,6 km de périgée et de 500 km d’apogée avec un angle d’inclination de 97,4°. La communauté internationale s’émeut, une nouvelle fois, dans un contexte déjà tendu en raison du test d’une présumée bombe H le 6 janvier dernier  et proclame sa conviction que le programme spatial nord-coréen ne cherche en réalité qu’à déguiser des tirs expérimentaux de missiles balistiques intercontinentaux. Cette note de recherche se propose de faire un point sur les capacités spatiales nord-coréennes et de discuter la question de la filiation lanceur-missile.

Abstract :
On Sunday February 7, 2016, North Korea announced the launch of an observation satellite, Kwangmyongsong-4. Proclaimed as a success, this satellite would be going round the polar orbit at 494.6 km perigee altitude and 500 km apogee altitude at the angle of inclination of 97.4 degrees. The international community then moved once again in an already tense context because of alleged testing of a hydrogen bomb on 6 January. Indeed, from the beginning of North Korea in space, its space program is presumed disguise experimental test of intercontinental ballistic missiles. This research note proposes then to make a point about the North Korean space capabilities and want to discuss the issue of missile-launcher filiations.

We apply the “security-hierarchy paradox” to nuclear proliferation. Global security requires a certain amount of hierarchy. A world in which no nuclear proliferation rules exist to constrain states, for example, would not be secure. Global security requires legitimate and authoritative rules, which we define as rules that are mutually negotiated, binding to all and which provide a stable social order. Too much hierarchy, however, amounts to coercion and undermines global security. Rules that are not mutually negotiated, binding to all or do not provide a stable social order are not authoritative. We argue that North Korea and Iran have attempted to build nuclear weapons because they interpret the proliferation rules to lack authority. The coercive U.S. approaches to enforcing proliferation rules – including diplomatic isolation, preemption, and regime change – have undermined the legitimacy of those rules. When the U.S. pursues less hierarchical policies, as it has recently toward N...

Objectives: This article aims to clarify the understanding and publication status of both The Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine (Donguibogam) and some of its recent research progress made in North Korea, as well as their influences upon the academic of Koryo medicine in North Korea.
Methods: Analysis was carried out based on various reference books, dictionaries and Korean translation of Donguibogam (1964 Ver.) published by North Korea, as well as the North Korean quarterly medical journal, Koryo Medicine.
Results: The academic of Koryo medicine in North Korea regards Donguibogam, a Korean medical classic as it was written by native Korean physicians and it became an important ground material for basic research and clinical study. Various terminologies used in the original version of Donguibogam were defined as unscientific and superstitious by North Korean academics, which were then subsequently removed from the Korean translation of Donguibogam (1964 Ver.) published by North Korea. Therefore, this version cannot be seen as a complete edition of Donguibogam.
Conclusions: The Donguibogam is known as one of the ‘three major books of Koryo medicine’ in North Korea. As a treasure of East-Asian traditional medical classic, Donguibogam is expected to become the medium for a closer research collaboration between the North and South Koreas including China in the future.

Among the deepest subway systems in the world, the Pyongyang Metro is marked by an ostensible disjunction with the space of the North Korean capital above it. Rather than referencing street names or landmarks above ground, each of the seventeen stations on the metro is named after and designed according to a revolutionary theme, ranging from " victory " to " reunification. " Furthermore, the metro stations contain no maps of Pyong-yang, and city maps do not indicate the locations of the metro stations. This essay draws on visual evidence and North Korean textual sources in order to demonstrate that the apparent bifurcation of the metro and the city space stems from the North Korean state's chuch'e ideology, which holds that ideas, rather than material conditions, determine reality. I demonstrate how the architectural design and mosaic murals of the metro stations evidence an attempt to cast the space of the metro as a realm of revolutionary thought detached from the material world above ground. Beyond merely reflecting the ideology of the state, however, the artistic forms comprising the metro also give rise to aesthetic effects that are irreducible to the narrative content signaled by the themes of the stations, thereby complicating understandings of how so-called totalitarian art operates in relation to the ideological context in which it is produced.

Disinformation, the disruptive effects of social media, and the prospect of information warfare increasingly preoccupy national security thinkers. In the twentieth century, years of prewar and wartime propaganda by the Axis powers and the Soviet Union made the World Wars and the Cold War longer and more costly. In this century, China and North Korea represent two nations that have propagandized their populations for 70 years, hardening them against informational initiatives. What are the lessons? How should the United States assemble a strategy to counter propaganda's effects?

This article takes a closer look at the internal evolution of the North Korean political system and how it has been subjugated to the personalist regime of the Kim family. The author argues that North Korea should no longer be perceived as a totalitarian regime since it is now a fully entrenched personal regime in the first place. The author investigates how this process of personalization took place in the institutional, ideological and mobilizational dimensions of the DPRK as well as the influence on its international relations (gatekeeping). Based on these insights the author provides some scenarios for endogenous transitions from this regime type and how hereditary succession and personalism affect its survival strategies..

The deep structural and cultural changes taking place in North Korea provide an opportunity to conduct influence operations to shape that country’s culture and society, either to destabilize the government or to prepare the population for a regime change. This paper presents a conceptual model of how contradictions between top down, imposed culture and organic, indigenous culture can be exploited to destabilize the system, and eventually repattern the culture. The process includes the following steps: identification of the cultural type; understanding relevant cultural forms; identification of vulnerable targets; evaluation of the information system; identification of effective elements of persuasion; mapping of the architecture of social control; and introduction of new “attractors” to damage or destroy the constituent cultural myths.

A Coreia do Norte constitui-se em um caso sui generis dentro do campo socialista oriundo da Revolução Russa, sustentando, diferente dos demais, ter transcedido o marxismo através do Zuche - ideologia oficial do Estado norte-coreano formulada por Kim Il Sung e Kim Jong Il. Tal peculiaridade só pode ser entendida se inserida dentro do contexto histórico concreto não só da Revolução Coreana como da formação milenar deste povo, marcada pela necessidade de preservação da autonomia diante de grandes potências estrangeiras. Assim, a independência ante adversários e aliados manifesta-se, além da política e da diplomacia, nos campos ideológico e teórico, levando à formulação de uma doutrina própria - especialmente diante das insuficiências do legado de Karl Marx e Friedrich Engels quanto à questão nacional.
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The North Korea is a sui generis case within the socialist camp derived from the Russian Revolution, defending, different from others, have transcended Marxism with the invention of Zuche - formulated by Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il as the official ideology of the North Korean state. This peculiarity can only be understood if inserted into the concrete historical context of the Korean Revolution and the formation of this millenary people, where the need to defend itself against foreign powers was constant. Therefore, independence in the face of opponents and allies expressed, beyond politics and diplomacy, in the ideological and theoretical fields, leading to the formulation of its own doctrine - especially given the shortcomings of the legacy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels about the national issue.

The Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, also North Korea) Kim Jong-Il initiated a renewed Chollima campaign in 2008 for a third time in the history of the nation, in an attempt to rescue the crumbling economy.  Although all those desperate attempts failed, they reflected how important the Chollima Movement (CM) was both in the history of the nation and to North Korean people.  Yet, due to the emergence of the Juche idea and the intensification of the North Korean nuclear crises, the period of the CM remained largely untouched by scholars and its importance in North Korean history was overlooked.  Although the idea of the CM was introduced by North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung in 1956 under the country’s first Five-year Plan (1957-61), it was not kicked off until 1959, a year after the start of the Chinese Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaign.  Since then, the origin and history of the CM were glossed over, if not omitted, in official North Korean accounts.  This essay attempts to fill the gap and find out to what extent, if at all, the Chinese GLF has influenced the CM, and the reasons behind the emulating efforts.  The essay will set the background by providing basic information of the two movements before moving on to a comparative analysis between the two.  It will then explain how GLF was emulated in the DPRK, along with an exploration of the reasons and motives behind.  It could be seen then the CM was, to a large extent, an emulation of the GLF, and such emulation was primarily voluntary in nature.

As the debate over North Korea’s collapse re-emerges, the mass exodus of North Koreans to China and South Korea poses a serious challenge. Already, many North Koreans have left North Korea for China and South Korea. In South Korea, over 20,000 defectors had arrived by 2010, most via China. They had gone to South Korea with high hopes, but soon were disillusioned by the realities of living there. By examining specific issues that the defectors face in adjusting to life in Korea, one can project the problems a unified Korea might encounter in integrating those who have lived under two completely different systems. The problem should be addressed as soon as possible, since it will take at least a generation to change people’s mindset. Lack of preparation to integrate Koreans from north into south could lead to enduring social problems that could impact the stability of Northeast Asia. Worse, a disaffected population could be a source of support for potential factions of North Korea that may conduct insurgency operations. Social integration is one area in which affected parties can start taking action now to prepare for the future, and doing so, will help ameliorate what could become a complex and expensive endeavor.

America’s North Korea nuclear policy has been a failure.
Instead of achieving its goal of preventing North Korea from
possessing and proliferating nuclear weapons, it has had the
opposite effect. This failure was a result of the George W.
Bush administration’s blanket rejection of the previous
administration’s approach to North Korea, the tendency to
ignore the advice of experts, neoconservative influence on foreign
policy, and divisions within the administration resulting
in an inconsistent approach. This article suggests a bold new
approach in which the United States offers North Korea full
diplomatic recognition and a formal end to the Korean War as
first steps toward the goals established in the 2007 Six Party
Talks on North Korea, i.e., that North Korea give up its
nuclear weapons and nuclear-weapons programs, and cease
its proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Taking these
moves as a starting point rather than a reward for compliance
will deepen North Korea’s commitment to nuclear disarmament
and nonproliferation by removing its gravest external
security threat—the United States.

This article examines the potential of international human rights standards to account for heightened risk and vulnerability to human rights abuses for persons with disabilities in politically repressive environments. We offer a preliminary assessment of whether and how a disability-cognizant accounting of human rights in repressive regimes can lead to a more credible and comprehensive understanding of disability in such contexts. In so doing, we make the case for a more thorough and thoughtful application of international disability rights standards to better inform human rights investigations, transitional justice approaches, and international criminal law proceedings. To illustrate this methodology, we analyze health and human rights disparities for North Koreans with disabilities by framing health disparity within a socio-contextual and rights-based understanding of disability. Specifically , we consider the social determinants of health in health outcomes for persons with disabilities using the human rights frame offered by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Using North Korea as a case study, we argue that assessing the social determinants of health and the disabling impact of social, physical, and other exogenous factors is likely to yield insights on health disparity in repressive (and other) environments.

Որպես Սառը Պատերազմի արդյունք, Կորեան 1948 թվականին բաժանվեց երկու սուվերեն պետությունների, և ստանալով ժամանակի գերտերությունների աջակցությունը՝ սկսվեց քաղաքական ռեժիմների և իշխանության տարածման պայքարը։ Կորեական հիմնախնդիրը դեռևս միջազգային հանրության ուշադրության կենտրոնում է, և չնայած ոչ այնքան վաղուց կնքված Խաղաղության Պայմանագրին՝ Կորեական հիմնախնդիրը դեռևս ամբողջովին լուծված չէ։ Այս աշխատանքում ուսումնասիրվում են Կորեական պատերազմի պատճառները, գերտերությունների առնչությունը, Կորեական հիմնախնդրի ներկայիս ընկալումը միջազգային հանրության կողմից, Կորեական հիմնախնդրի կարգավորման ինչպիսի հեռանկարները, շահագրգիռ կողմերը և
Փխանմունդժոմենյան հռչակագիրը։

The Perfect Weapon presents a comprehensive overview of the
modern cyber battlefield for lay-men and cyber security enthusiasts. In the book, the author discusses in detail the prominent cyber operations from Stuxnet to NotPetya and how the most active states in the cyber domain are shaping the future landscape of the fifth generation of warfare. Sanger has rightly pointed out that the future of cyber warfare is totally uncertain. Therefore, efforts have to be made for formulating rules and norms to ensure that the cyberspace does not become hostage to a few hands who, through simple keyboard strokes, aim to make it a source of destruction and havoc.

Producto de mi análisis de inteligencia de fuentes abiertas (Open Sources Intelligence Analysis), he llegado a la hipótesis de que Corea del Norte pudo haber sido la responsable de desarrollar en un laboratorio al nuevo coronavirus Covid-19, y de haberlo contagiado en Wuhan probablemente en octubre de 2019 durante el evento deportivo internacional llamado los VII CISM Juegos Mundiales Militares, celebrados en la ciudad de Wuhan del 18 al 27 de octubre pasados.

Az amerikai–orosz szembenállás néhány területét elemző cikk három fő
kérdéssel foglalkozik: a növekvő mértékben többpólusú világrend körülményei között a globális amerikai hegemónia fenntarthatóságának néhány problémájával, a Trump által az elnöksége első 100 napja alatt folytatott külpolitika értékelésével, valamint néhány olyan katonai konfliktus elemzésével, amelyek esetében az amerikai–orosz katonai szembenállás közvetlenül vagy közvetve megmutatkozik. Az értékelés szempontjából kritikus jelentősége van annak, hogy az Amerikai Egyesült Államok kirobbant-e egy nagy háborút Észak-Koreával.