NK News – North Korea News

NK News Senior Analytic Correspondent Colin Zwirko joins this week’s podcast to discuss North Korea’s naval modernization push, from Kim Jong Un’s latest cruise missile test from the Kang Kon destroyer to the recent commissioning of the Choe Hyon, the country’s first 5,000-ton warship to formally enter service. He also breaks down his latest NK […]

This week’s episode of the NK News Podcast looks at North Korea’s military modernization, from Kim Jong Un’s new 5,000-ton Choe Hyon destroyer to recent tactical missile and artillery tests. Korea Risk Group Correspondent Joon Ha Park discusses what the destroyer adds to Pyongyang’s navy, why its assignment to the West Sea Fleet matters and […]

This week’s episode of the NK News Podcast looks at North Korea’s decision to recall its ambassador to the U.K. just weeks after his appointment, in protest over British sanctions on the Songdowon International Children’s Camp.  NK News Lead Correspondent Shreyas Reddy discusses why the camp holds symbolic importance for Pyongyang, its links to Russia […]

This month, retired U.S. Army Col. Brian Davis joins North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot to discuss lessons from his nearly 40-year career spanning some of the most consequential periods in U.S.-DPRK relations. He talks about how intelligence on North Korea is gathered and analyzed, how U.S. and South Korean military priorities shifted from conventional […]

This week, NK News CEO Chad O’Carroll and Chris Green of International Crisis Group join the podcast to discuss a Seoul court’s decision to sentence former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison, finding that he orchestrated a drone operation that sought to provoke a North Korean response and create a pretext […]

On this week’s episode, NK News Lead Correspondent Shreyas Reddy unpacks Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first visit to North Korea in seven years and what it reveals about the future of China-DPRK relations. The conversation examines the symbolism and strategic messaging behind the two-day summit, including Xi’s meetings with Kim Jong Un, visits to the […]

On this week’s episode, NK News Senior Analytic Correspondent Colin Zwirko discusses a busy week of developments in North Korea. He examines Pyongyang’s latest missile test of a new modular launcher and tactical cruise missile system, as well as what these weapons could mean for military planning near the inter-Korean border. He also talks about […]

This week, NK News Correspondent Jooheon Kim joins the podcast to discuss a North Korean soccer team’s rare trip to the South. The Naegohyang Women’s Football Club made the journey for the AFC Women’s Champions League semifinals, marking the first visit by a DPRK sports delegation in nearly eight years and the first by a […]

In the first episode of North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot, Jacco sits down with Professor Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University and a director of Korea Risk Group — the first-ever guest on the original NK News Podcast back in 2018 — to discuss North Korea’s newly revealed constitutional changes and what they mean for […]

This week on the NK News Podcast, Data Correspondent Anton Sokolin talks about the expanding North Korea-Russia relationship — from military pageantry in Moscow to drone training in Russia’s Far East and a mysterious shipwreck off Spain’s coast. Anton breaks down the significance of North Korean soldiers marching through Red Square for the first time […]

This week’s NK News Podcast looks at a newly revealed document that appears to show how North Korea amended its constitution to redefine relations with South Korea. Korea Risk Group Executive Director Jeongmin Kim discusses the document’s apparent removal of unification language, its new territorial clause and why Pyongyang may be keeping maritime boundaries deliberately […]

In this handover episode of the NK News Podcast, new host Alannah Hill sits down with longtime host Jacco Zwetsloot to look back on his time leading the show since its launch in Feb. 2018.  They revisit the podcast’s first episode with Andrei Lankov, the major North Korea stories that defined that period and how […]

Content warning: This episode contains discussion of sexual violence. NK News Data Correspondent Anton Sokolin kicks off the podcast this week by discussing the long-running debate over the transfer of wartime operational control, or OPCON, from the U.S. to South Korea, following comments made by U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson. He also examines […]

NK News Correspondent Jooheon Kim kicks off the podcast this week by discussing North Korea-Japan relations, focusing on lingering tensions over the abductions issue, recent trilateral naval cooperation with Seoul and Washington, and Pyongyang’s criticism of Japan’s latest diplomatic Blue Book. In the second half, the scholar Sayaka Chatani joins the podcast to explore the […]

Korea Risk Group Executive Director Jeongmin Kim kicks off the podcast this week by discussing North Korea’s positive response after Seoul expressed regret for past civilian drone incursions, only to quickly undercut hopes for inter-Korean detente with more hardline messaging and a series of missile launches. In the second half, Dr. Cathy Kang of the […]