Before suggesting ideas that I believe can change things, I’ll post some things I think won’t change much in the long term. I pointed out what appears the dominant strategy for North Korean decision-makers Stabiility: to maintain its geographical dominance Loyalty: to maintain its support from its citizens All other decisions are subordinate to this strategy or irrelevant. I expect the North Korean government will resist any action that threatens[…] Keep reading →

To understand how leaders in North Korea decide how to implement the strategy I’ve described in the past few posts, you have to look at the situation from their perspective. When a business decides its strategy, it formally deliberates and decides it. For the management team to mess up on implementing it may result in the company losing money, market share, and so on. Messing up badly can result in[…] Keep reading →

First a few caveats before I paint the broad strokes for the perspectives and motivations for the major players as they relate to North Korean strategy. I haven’t studied international and public affairs. I believe, nonetheless, that the broad strokes below describe the important aspects of the strategic situation. Perhaps I’m speaking out of ignorance, but I believe history backs me up: how else can you explain a regime maintaining[…] Keep reading →

“What can I do?” This question drives interest in North Korea perhaps more than any other after asking what it’s like. Even people who know little about the rest of the world sense something about North Korea they’d like to help with. Nobody sees what they can do. The next few posts will cover what you can do. I believe you need to understand North Korea’s situation from a strategic[…] Keep reading →

A friend and reader, es, commented Your posts about North Korea remind me of some parts from Amartya Sen’s “Identity and Violence” and “the Idea of Justice”. Over-generalization, exclusion, multiple identities, basic norms existing in each society and universal norms that should transcend them. Narrow views on North Korea can be attributed to people only focusing on one aspect of North Koreans’ identities through the lens of basic norms in[…] Keep reading →

People like to talk about food in places they travel. Naturally they ask about food in North Korea. At the beginning I liked it, but by the end a couple things get to you. First, as a tourist you get a lot of similar things over again. Second, at least when we visited in August, besides some slices of apple with breakfast, we had no fresh fruits or vegetables. Most[…] Keep reading →

More themes to expect from this blog on North Korea… Leadership, control, and how you are led and controlled You can’t miss some of the North Korean government’s more blatant methods to control its population — the propaganda, unique versions of history, controlling the flow of people and information across its borders, and regulating trade, for example. Some you can’t see as a tourist but the press outside North Korea[…] Keep reading →