Ask me about North Korea
Politikk og nyheterNorth Korea certainly deserves its title of the Hermit Kingdom of East Asia. Even today, for many that country remains a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. Does North Korea really have no COVID-19 cases? Has Kim Jong-un really executed people with a flamethrower? Is everyone there forced to get a Kim Jong-un haircut? As a North Korea watcher, in this podcast I do my best to provide short but detailed responses to these and other most common questions about this country. The podcast is powered by Anchor. For more details visit - askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com
Siste episoder av Ask me about North Korea podcast
- Episode 50 – Why does this podcast have to come to an end? (at least, for now) (00:04:14)
All things have to come to an end, and it applies to this podcast in its current format too. Thank you for staying tuned for more than 50 episodes! In this last episode I talk about why it has to end and what my future plans are. Spoiler: Once I have more time, I will do my best to rebrand, reformat, and continue this podcast in mid-2022. To use a famous platitude - I am not saying “goodbye”, I am just saying “see you later!”
- Episode 49 – What is the role of military in North Korea? (00:10:44)
In this episode, I would like to talk about the Korean People’s Army or KPA – the military of North Korea, which is also the armed wing of the ruling party. Specifically, today we will look at the current structure, role, and significance of the North Korean army.
- Episode 48 – Why are the North Korean-Japanese relations as bad as it can get? (00:14:09)
Today’s episode talks about the complicated historical framework of the North Korean-Japanese relations – including the two biggest conflict points that both countries have had. In that light, I also discuss their contemporary problems including history interpretation and mutual negative perception.
- Episode 47 – How to release North Korean music covers? (Interview with Justin Martell) (00:36:29)
Today’s episode is unusually musical. Our guest today is Justin Martell, an American producer, and a co-founder of Ship to Shore PhonoCo record label. Justin Martell in 2017 also founded YPT’s partner, Pioneer Media, offering production services across a wide variety of unique locations from Asia to Eastern Europe. He has worked extensively in the horror movie genre and has written the foremost authoritative book Tiny Tim. Today's interview with him will focus on an album, which has been recently released by Ship to Shore PhonoCo. The album is called "Take On Us! Pyongyang Gold Stars" and was a product of intense international and intercultural cooperation between Justin, Morten Traavik, and many North Korean artists.
- Episode 46 – What does North Korea export to the outside world? (00:10:09)
This episode will not be very analytical, but the topic that I will cover provides some important context for the previous episodes and your understanding of the North Korean socio-economic system and its place in the global trade streams. Today I will talk a bit more about North Korean exports – what the country focuses on in its production and external trade.
- Episode 45 – What happens if Kim Jong-un dies? (00:12:33)
The notorious leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, has disappeared several times from the public eye in the course of 2020 and 2021, with both experts and media watchers wondering whether the North Korean leader is suffering from some sort of systemic health issue that could potentially be fatal. But what actually happens if Kim Jong-un dies? What will the immediate political ramifications look like? Let’s think about it together.
- Episode 44 – Why will North Korea remain under quarantine for longer than just 2021? (00:08:53)
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, North Korea had a reputation as one of the most if not the most isolated societies on Earth. It was as if North Korea was already living under the conditions of a permanent COVID-19 lockdown. Indeed, it was hard to imagine that the hermit nation could get any more reclusive than it had already been. Yet with COVID-19 raging all over the world, North Korea seems to be rolling down the path of new unprecedented levels of isolationism. So, in this episode, I’ll answer the question: Why will North Korea remain under quarantine for much longer than initially expected?
- Episode 43 – How does North Korea make money illegally? (00:15:39)
Quite some time ago I’ve received a couple of suggestions to cover the question of how North Korea earns money illicitly. Since this is a massive topic, it took me a while to figure out what kind of episode I want to make while answering the question. Hence, today, I will try to respond to this question by focusing on the main areas of North Korean criminal activities that earn cash for the regime – ranging from drug trade to counterfeiting. Apart from that, I’ll touch upon the organizational structure of that system and mention other types of illegal activities that might not be bringing as much cash but are still sometimes brought up in the context of discussions about the DPRK.
- The Podcast’s Participation in Annual Podcast Awards: Your Vote is Needed! (00:01:35)
Hello everyone! So, I am coming to you today with another announcement/request. As some of you might have seen, I have recently registered for the annual Podcast Awards competition in the category 'News & Politics'. I would be very grateful, if you could use 2 minutes of your time and support my podcast with your vote as a listener. Your help would mean a lot! You can find the instructions here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRtwZPDn0I3yXeAMFL9IB73wiRVHoCKbbT-0KeS29a1nFRZj5raBj9QOUr30qSXk1rV4egUJuAu5rYa/pub
- Episode 42 — What is it like to be an organizer of tours to North Korea? (00:19:39)
Today’s podcast episode is an interview with an organizer of North Korea tours. Nicolas Platt is a travel guide, who works with the Young Pioneers’ Tours, one of the most renown DPRK tour organizers internationally. The YPT website describes Nic as a “North Korea wunderkind and tour guide par extraordinaire. Whilst he’s not touring you may usually find him at a North Korean restaurant in China, studying Korean or travelling unique parts of the world”.
- Episode 41 – What is North Korea’s diplomatic standing in the developing world? (00:14:06)
Back in the Cold War days, North Korea was one of the key players in the non-aligned movement or the so-called Third World. Pyongyang used to position itself as a leader of the opposition to international imperialism and even tried to project its juche ideology on other countries. However, now the country is largely seen as an international pariah sponging off the remaining economic and political ties it has with the developing nations. Why did the situation change so dramatically? I am going to talk about that in today’s episode.
- Episode 40 – What are North Korean cartoons? (00:10:33)
North Korean animation is not really renowned world-wide, but you might have seen some of its products without even realizing it. Indeed, its quality can be surprisingly good! For example, North Korean animators drew some of the scenes in “The Lion King”, one of Disney’s biggest bestsellers. On the other hand, it is also responsible for producing extremely funny, cringy or violent series too. If you are curious about North Korea’s cultural exploits in this area, make sure to check out this episode.
- Episode 39 – Did COVID-19 reach Pyongyang: What is North Korea’s ‘grave coronavirus incident’? (00:09:41)
It was quite a sudden bit of news when Kim Jong-un, speaking at a high-level Party meeting at the end of June of 2021, warned of “grave consequences” as a result of senior officials neglecting the country’s COVID-19 prevention measures. This statement caused a lot of interest and controversy in the international mass-media with North Korea experts divided on what sort of event could have happened. Was it really that North Korea detected its first COVID-19 case? Was there a breach of quarantine measures? Or was it something completely different?
- Episode 38 – Why did the Workers’ Party of Korea change its rulebook and why does it matter? (00:12:34)
Today I am discussing one of the most important recent political developments in North Korea. Specifically, I will talk about the revisions to the rules of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). They were made public and resurfaced on the professional DPRK watchdog websites only a couple of weeks ago, despite the fact that officially the WPK Congress, which is the highest decision-making body in North Korea, revised those rules in January. So, what do these revisions mean for North Korea?
- Season 2 Finale – Podcast Updates, Book Lottery, and June Hiatus (00:03:47)
Today I am coming to you with some updates on the podcast, several messages, and a book lottery announcement. Want to get a copy of Kim Jong-un’s biography? Just spread the word about the podcast.
- Episode 37 – Why did Joe Biden and Moon Jae-in meet and what does it mean for North Korea? (00:14:35)
Today I would like to do some news coverage from the past week. If some of you have been following the news on North Korea, South Korea, or the United States, you most likely know that a major meeting between the US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in took place on May 21. Why did they meet in the first place, why does it matter, and will it change anything in the relations of both countries with North Korea?
- Episode 36 – What are the challenges and joys of studying North Korea? (00:12:13)
After having produced quite a number of podcast episodes, I wanted to reflect a little bit exactly on the subject of my exploits – North Korean studies. Thus, in this episode, I will be doing what I do best – complaining. Specifically, I would like to tell you about all the issues that North Korea watchers like me have to face in their research. Perhaps if any of you ever get interested in this field or choose to conduct their own projects, you might find my ramblings somewhat useful.
- Episode 35 – What is the history of football in the North Korea? (00:12:22)
There are not that many things that both North and South Korea have in common. Yet football is one of them. Given the love of the game in both countries, football can also be a powerful diplomatic tool in inter-Korean relations as well as a gate for North Koreans to the outside world. In today’s episode, I will talk about the history and peculiarities of contemporary North Korean football at the request of one of my listeners, Carl Stewart from Northumberland.
- Episode 34 – How bad is the human rights situation in the DPRK and how did it get there? (00:18:41)
While the human rights problem in North Korea is rather well-documented and well-studied, in this episode I wanted to provide you with a quick introduction on the topic; suggest some follow-up readings; and, most importantly, reflect on how the situation became so bad in the first place. After all, the human rights situation in that country is a good reminder for all of us about why North Korea is not something funny.
- Episode 33 – What is the geopolitical dimension of the Russia-North Korea relations? (00:18:30)
Moscow is often seen, similar to Beijing, as one of the key allies of the North Korean regime. Yet politics and history of the Russia-North Korea relations have vacillated from strategic importance to complete indifference – and the pendulum would swing back and forth every other decade. The Korean Peninsula, which lies as the Eastern-most border with Russia, has remained in the focus of Russia's and USSR’s geopolitical attention throughout the twentieth century. Korea, on the other hand, even before its division, saw Russia as an important counterbalance to other geopolitical giants such as Japan or China. Today I will elaborate on the historic context of the Russian-North Korean relations and try to explain why their importance has dwindled with time.
- Episode 32 – What is it like to travel to North Korea? (Part 2) (00:19:00)
Today we continue with discussing the impressions of the people, who travelled to North Korea back in the pre-COVID era. In this episode, Mr. Vitaly Konovalov, who went to the DPRK in 2009 for professional purposes, shares his experiences of staying in that reclusive authoritarian state and draws parallels between the North Korea of 2009 and Brezhnev’s Soviet Union.
- Episode 31 – Why is the number of North Korean refugees dwindling? (00:17:49)
People fleeing from North Korea are not a new phenomenon. Since the division of Korea after the end of the Korean War, citizens of the DPRK have fled from their country for not only political or ideological, but also economic and personal reasons. So, the area from which my question stems is quite well-studied – there have been hundreds of interviews, media reports, memoirs, and research articles written in this area. However, in this episode I would like to give you a quick introduction on the topic and, more importantly, explain why the numbers of people fleeing from North Korea has been dwindling even before the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Episode 30 – What is it like to travel to North Korea? (Part 1) (00:48:47)
For quite some time I have been meaning to talk about how people travel to North Korea – not for diplomatic or political purposes, but just as ordinary tourists or business people. Even though I could have recorded a more or less standard episode in my attempt to answer that questions, I thought that perhaps there could be a more interesting way of telling you about this. So, after some pondering, I came to the conclusion that there is no better way of doing that than asking someone, who had actually visited the country. Hence, in this and in the next episodes two different people will be talking about their stories and impressions of traveling to the DRPK.
- Episode 29 – Who is Kim Yo-jong and what is her role in North Korea? (00:13:48)
Kim Yo-jong is another member of the Kim dynasty, who has recently been attracting a lot of attention on international social media platforms. Being Kim Jong-un’s sister, she is seen as one of the key members of the narrowest circle of top North Korean elites with many media speculating about her being Kim Jong-un’s potential successor. But how did she get to that position and what is her role in the North Korean authoritarian system? You will find out in this episode!
- Episode 28 – Why are Sino-North Korean relations not as good as they seem? (00:20:43)
When browsing some Western media outlets, you might encounter a misplaced stereotype about North Korea being a Chinese puppet. Others argue that these two countries are very close allies, recalling how Mao Zedong called the relationship as close as ‘lips and teeth’. However, the reality is that Sino-North Korean relations have never been particularly easy or straightforward. They have been marred by complex twists and turns of history and even today the national interests of both nations remain at odds. Today we will together explore the history and current political intricacies of the Sino-North Korean relations.