Desperation fuels North Korea's leniency
North Korea's release of American missionary Robert Park comes as the debilitating effects of a botched currency reform raises fears of famine and as a power struggle erupts among Pyongyang's elite. With the North reportedly reeling from rice riots and inner-party purges, Seoul and Washington see the perfect chance to turn the screws on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons program. - Donald Kirk (Feb 5, '10)

South Korea marks a painful centenary
Northeast China, March 26, 1910. A Korean nationalist is executed for pumping four bullets into Hirobumi Ito, architect of the Meiji Restoration and Japan's colonial administrator for Korea. The shots fired by Ahn Jung-geun ushered in a 35-year Japanese occupation of Korea marked by killings, "comfort women" and a merciless "Japanization". They also rang out across Northeast Asia, raising questions of Pan-Asian unity that remain unanswered to this day. - Ronan Thomas (Feb 2, '10)

Grim tales from North Korea's gulags
Former prisoners from a North Korean penal colony have dire news on the ordeal likely being endured by the American missionary who entered the country in December with a "message of goodwill". In the North, Christian worship is punishable by death, while simply being a classmate of one of the Dear Leader's mistresses is enough to earn one - along with the family - a slow, painful death in a gulag. - Donald Kirk (Jan 28, '10)

Looking ahead to North Korea's demise
A recent report released in the United States, one of whose authors is closely connected to Washington’s defense establishment, looks at what it would take to disarm North Korea. In similar vein, South Korea has come out with a contingency plan should North Korea collapse. Pyongyang's indignation is enough to undo signs of renewed efforts at reconciliation. - Donald Kirk (Jan 22, '10)

Pyongyang gets a piece of US's mind
As North Korea sounded off about a Korean War peace treaty, the United States human-rights envoy, Robert King, was talking tough on the North's record while on a visit to South Korea. The timing and motives behind these events are unclear, though the US State Department lost no time in denouncing the peace proposal as essentially nothing new. - Donald Kirk (Jan 12, '10)

Christian tests Pyongyang's resolutions
The Korean-American missionary who entered North Korea on Christmas eve carrying an appeal for leader Kim Jong-il to repent and release political prisoners has an uncertain fate. Hopes he will be spared were boosted by New Year pledges by Pyongyang, possibly sparked by economic desperation, to strive for "lasting peace" on the peninsula and make it "nuclear-free through dialogue". But the Christian crusader may already have one foot in heaven. - Donald Kirk (Jan 4, '10)

South Korea let off for nuclear deceptions
In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed that a member state had lied and carried out covert uranium conversion and enrichment activities for more than two decades, raising legitimate suspicions of interest in a nuclear weapons program. Sounds like Iran, right? Wrong. This deception was carried out by South Korea, and the violations went unpunished. - Gareth Porter (Dec 21, '09)

Pyongyang issues a call for arms
Emerging details of United States envoy Stephen Bosworth's visit to Pyongyang have made clear the North's main condition before returning to the six-party talks on its nuclear program - the lifting of sanctions imposed on its arms trade. The seizure in Thailand of a cargo plane laden with North Korean arms highlights that the sanctions are working. - Donald Kirk (Dec 18, '09)

SPEAKING FREELY
North Korea: Mad as a hatter?
Basic mistrust between North Korea and the United States dates to the 1950s. It continues to mar prospects of ending the tense standoff over nuclear proliferation. With nukes becoming a bargaining tool for Pyongyang, confrontation and conflict with the US and its allies is set to continue, despite some optimistic signs of accommodation. - John Hemmings (Dec 17, '09)

Diplomatic deja vu in Pyongyang
Stephen Bosworth, the US envoy on Korea, has returned from Pyongyang after "candid" talks on resuming six-party meetings and a September 2005 deal in which the North agreed to surrender its nuclear program in return for energy and economic aid. However, the North has a poor record on abiding with agreements and the US is unlikely to accept its fanciful conditions. - Donald Kirk (Dec 11, '09)

Pyongyang stage set for Bosworth talks
This week's trip by a high-level United States envoy to Pyongyang indicates that the US is learning to live with a nuclear North Korea, writes the North's unofficial spokesman. In return, the Kim Jong-il regime is ready to consider ending its nuclear weapons program, if the US signs a bilateral peace treaty, establishes full diplomatic ties and initiates global nuclear disarmament. - Kim Myong Chol (Dec 8, '09)

Seoul has own fears over US surge
South Korea has bristled at the notion that United States troops stationed in the Asian country could be moved to bolster the 30,000-strong force ordered to Afghanistan. Seoul will also closely watch next week's visit by a US envoy to Pyongyang. His trip may have a grim backdrop, as a redenomination of the North Korean won has reportedly sparked suicides, killings and even protests. - Donald Kirk (Dec 4, '09)

South Korea's 'grand' smokescreen
South Korea's latest offer for the North, dubbed the "grand bargain", is a rehash of its "Vision 3000" package that Pyongyang shot down with its usual strongly worded rhetoric. Seoul fully expects its latest offer to be rebuffed, but that is the plan. - Andrei Lankov
(Dec 2, '09)

Cheers all round for Obama in Korea
After troublesome stopovers in Japan and China, United States President Barack Obama ended his swing through Asia on a high in South Korea, with US troops jubilant after a rousing speech. The feel-good factor was boosted by a glowing consensus with Seoul's leader over ending Pyongyang's nuclear program. - Donald Kirk (Nov 20, '09)

Korean model triumphs over West
South Korea's strong economic growth, as Western counterparts struggle to emerge from recession, makes a mockery of long-standing criticism from the West over the predominance of family-run conglomerates in the Korean economy. - Ian Williams (Nov 16, '09)

Korea: Looking for a fight
After the 5,000 rounds that four South Korean patrol boats fired at an errant North Korean vessel, President Obama's visit to Seoul will seem tame in comparison. But while there won't be any fireworks over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, the contentious US-Korean free-trade agreement could provide sufficient ammunition for a fight. - Donald Kirk (Nov 13, '09)

Songdo City defies crisis odds
Local government backing and the promise of a high-quality life have helped a built-from-scratch city on reclaimed land west of Seoul to survive the financial crisis and numerous domestic doubts. But Songdo City's first post-recession test is coming as more apartments are put up for sale. - David McNeill (Nov 11, '09)

Clouds over Tokyo and Seoul
Disagreements over a United States army base in Japan and a free-trade agreement with South Korea are likely to figure prominently in President Barack Obama's visit to Northeast Asia. Nonetheless, Obama is expected to grasp this opportunity to reaffirm the US's longstanding relationship with its two closest allies in the region. (Nov 11, '09)

US finally wise to Pyongyang's ways
Through a canny mix of precipitous threats and conciliatory gestures, North Korea had continually succeeded in manipulating the United States into granting it vast amounts of food and energy aid - while giving away little in return. The US now appears to have cottoned onto this, recognizing that Pyongyang hasn't the slightest intention of surrendering its nuclear program. - Andrei Lankov (Nov 11, '09)

Passing the buck on North Korea
Bilateral talks scheduled between Stephen Bosworth, the United States point man on North Korea, and the leadership in Pyongyang - purportedly over coaxing the North back into six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program - may just be a smokescreen to force China back into action. Even if Bosworth's mission is fruitless, Beijing could no longer accuse the US of not showing its hand. - Donald Kirk (Nov 6, '09)

US frets over Tokyo drift
The United States-Japan alliance remains a cornerstone of US security in the Pacific, but Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's pledges to create more independence for Japan and a viable East Asian community have led to uncertainty in Washington. Domestically, Hatoyama faces a delicate balancing act as he attempts to satisfy the demands of the public, pacifist coalition members, and an ever-more assertive Japanese military. - Peter J Brown (Nov 4, '09)

Doubles, toil and trouble in Pyongyang
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's sprightly appearance in a spate of public showings since he reportedly suffered a stroke, including meetings with China's Premier Wen Jiabao and former United States president Bill Clinton, has re-ignited rumors there is a troupe of look-alike Dear Leader actors. - Donald Kirk (Oct 30, '09)

New moons are rising
The Reverend Sun Myung Moon, nearing 90, has been meeting movers and shakers in the rarified heights of Washington to promote his autobiography, illustrating the political power and influence both in the United States and abroad of his World Unification Church. Moon's sons are now being groomed for the difficult task of making the church appear less idiosyncratic and more acceptable to the public. (Oct 30, '09)

Korean summit not such a sick idea
As Washington pledges continuous military support for South Korea and issues cautious words for the North, South Korean media are hinting that an inter-Korean summit might not be as absurd an idea as previously believed. Maybe the Dear Leader will go on a medical tourism journey to Seoul. - Donald Kirk (Oct 23, '09)

Pyongyang flirts with 'two-track' strategy
A glimpse of the desolate battlefields of the Korean War - near the site of Friday's talks on family reunions and aid - highlights how little inter-Korean reconciliation has progressed since the conflict ended in 1953. The talks come after a week of mixed messages from Pyongyang that saw it launch a barrage of short-range missiles, before making a rare apology. - Donald Kirk (Oct 16, '09)

ADRIFT ON A RUSSIAN ISLAND, Part 2
A political crisis erupts
As the 30,000-strong South Korean community on Russia's Sakhalin Island began to demand repatriation in the mid-1970s, Soviet authorities scrambled to deal with a political crisis that threatened to turn into a major embarrassment. A harsh solution was found, with many of the dissenters sent packing to North Korea, never to be seen again. - Andrei Lankov (Oct 16, '09)
This is the concluding article in a two-part report.
PART 1: Koreans left high and dry

North Korea begins 'Plan C'
As part of a "Plan C", Pyongyang is willing to start acting as a responsible nuclear power, stop transferring sensitive technology abroad and even help the Barack Obama administration's goal of global nuclear disarmament, according to its unofficial spokesman. All it will take is complete US recognition of the North's nuclear power status, a peace treaty and the establishment of full diplomatic ties. - Kim Myong Chol (Oct 13, '09)

Give and take on North Korea
North Korea's Kim Jong-il on Tuesday promised visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that Pyongyang will return to the six-party talks that the North has previously spurned. Beijing will take credit for arm-twisting the recalcitrant North Koreans, while Kim will believe he has played his cards just right. - Donald Kirk (Oct 6, '09)

North Korea reverts to form
After a fleeting period of cordiality, North Korea has slammed the door on South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's vision of a "grand bargain" to resolve inter-Korean issues and blasted the United States for a policy of "confrontation" over the North's nuclear program. Diplomats from Seoul and Washington are doing their best to smile through the gloom. - Donald Kirk (Oct 2, '09)

Obama's Korean honeymoon sours
The fact that Iran and North Korea have exchanged nuclear components and know-how, and that Pyongyang has exported missiles to Iran, inextricably links them - if not in an "axis of evil", then at least in a military and commercial alliance. This is not missed by United States President Barack Obama, whose tough talk could throw cold water on the current US-North Korea honeymoon. - Donald Kirk (Sep 25, '09)

And then there were two ...
The Barack Obama administration has resolved that there's no harm in beginning the bilateral dialogue that North Korea has long wanted as a way to get Pyongyang back into the six-party talks on its nuclear program. This places Washington on a collision course with South Korea. - Donald Kirk (Sep 18, '09)

South Korea shows recovery skills
The South Korean economy is charging back into recovery mode, as the country's consumers make the most of a stimulus package and its factories' products are bought up to help global inventory restocking. - R M Cutler (Sep 10, '09)

North Korea's succession gets twisted
Years of speculation over who will succeed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il seemed to be nearing conclusion in April when his youngest son emerged as the probable new "Sun of the Nation". Now, after an apparent uptick in the Dear Leader's health, all talk and songs about "Young General Kim" have come to an abrupt halt. - Andrei Lankov (Sep 10, '09)

North Korea drops a uranium bombshell
Suspicions that North Korea never halted its uranium nuclear weapons program have been at the core of United States diplomacy with Pyongyang for years. The North on Friday officially confirmed these fears, and worse, that enrichment is in its "final phase". Cornered by tough sanctions and a dire economic situation, Pyongyang hopes the revelation will hasten one-on-one dialogue with Washington. - Donald Kirk (Sep 4, '09)

Storm over North Korea-Iran arms vessel
An Australian-owned vessel has been seized by the United Arab Emirates after North Korean conventional weapons, reportedly destined for Iran, were found in its cargo marked as "machine parts". The seizure, the result of tough new United Nation sanctions, could undermine Pyongyang's recent conciliatory gestures and a glowing report on Tehran's nuclear program. - Donald Kirk (Aug 31, '09)

Pyongyang plays 'funeral diplomacy'
North Korea's sudden displays of cordiality, such as the delegation sent to Sunday's funeral of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, are more likely a result of Pyongyang's economic desperation than any desire to end the nuclear standoff. As equally significant as the North's visit was who the United States chose for its delegation to honor Kim. - Donald Kirk (Aug 24, '09)

SPEAKING FREELY
It's all a North Korean plot
North Korea's plan to upset the international community is a well thought out strategy. The political and military leaders are wary of a succession struggle and regime collapse if Kim Jong-il passes away. Hence, they are toying with China-style economic liberalization and nuclear brinkmanship to ward off future prosecution for human-rights abuses. - Peter Van Nguyen (Aug 20, '09)

Kim Dae-jung fought for an elusive dream
To the end of his days, 85-year-old Kim Dae-jung backed the "Sunshine" policy of reconciliation with North Korea that he instituted during his presidency from 1998 to 2003. Kim, who died on Tuesday, was fighting a losing battle; the Barack Obama administration's approach to Pyongyang will ensure that "Sunshine" remains a mirage. - Donald Kirk (Aug 19, '09)

Through the (North Korean) looking glass
The administration of President Barack Obama has in many ways adopted the policies of George W Bush towards North Korea, even using strikingly similar rhetoric. There has been a conspicuous difference, however, in the response of observers. Alice in Wonderland would describe it as "curiouser and curiouser". Or hypocritical. - Bruce Klingner (Aug 18, '09)

Freedom comes at a price in Pyongyang
North Korea's release on Thursday of a South Korean worker, like its freeing of two United States journalists, could signal a shift towards a more conciliatory line after its atomic bomb and missile tests this year. But it is more likely the gestures stem from large financial incentives, or from an even greater motivating factor - pressure from China. - Donald Kirk (Aug 14, '09)

Finally, laid to rest in Pyongyang
The brother of a British pilot shot down over Pyongyang during the Korean War was not expecting much help from reclusive North Korea in locating the fallen airman's remains. He was more than surprised, then, when he was welcomed by officials for a visit to the well-tended grave near the capital. - Michael Rank (Aug 13, '09)

South Korea's first rocket ready - at last
South Korea's first domestically developed rocket is finally scheduled to launch this month after delays that have strained relations with the Russian space agency that helped build it. Seoul had few options when choosing a space ally - the United States refused to help the nation's space program for years, fearing this would kick-start a regional arms race. - Peter J Brown (Aug 10, '09)

No hero for Pyongyang's other guests
Former United States president Bill Clinton was able to secure the release of two American journalists held by North Korea, but the future remains bleak for an estimated 1,000 South Koreans and up to 20 Japanese in detention there. Seoul and Tokyo have worked for years for their release, but they simply don't have the US's sway or resources. - Donald Kirk (Aug 7, '09)

Dear Leader stars in Bill and Hillary show
Former United States president Bill Clinton has done his bit by bringing home American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, five months after they were seized for crossing illegally into North Korea. Now it is up the State Department, led by his wife Hillary, to play its part: North Korean leader Kim Jong-il certainly wants a reward for his "humanitarian and peace-loving" gesture. - Donald Kirk (Aug 5, '09)

Pyongyang purges for a new era
A crackdown on anyone perceived as soft towards the United States or South Korea is reportedly underway in North Korea, with even skilled past negotiators destined for chicken farms, re-education camps or a public execution. The purge is a manifestation of a much more sweeping campaign to purify society ahead of a looming succession crisis. - Donald Kirk (Jul 31, '09)

North Korea sees an opening
Pyongyang is now out in the open with a strategy that may not be as misguided as it appears. Negotiations to bring home two female American journalists found guilty of intruding into North Korea may easily segue into the one-on-one dialogue that North Korea sees as the only way to bypass the six-party talks while winning serious concessions from the United States. - Donald Kirk (Jul 28, '09)

Nuclear powers revert to playground
A hissy fit between the United States and North Korea this week, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling North Korea's leaders "unruly teenagers" and Pyongyang saying she is a "primary-school girl", may illustrate the depth of tensions over their nuclear standoff but does little to resolve it. - Donald Kirk (Jul 24, '09)

Conflicts in China's North Korea policy
China's indifference to United Nations efforts to block North Korean arms shipments flies in the face of world opinion and could doom the plan. Beijing has clear motives: a reunified Korea might recognize United States supremacy in the region, and if North Korean refugees flood into south China, it could spark more ethnic separatism. - Cynthia Lee (Jul 20, '09)