Reading Rodong Sinmun, in South Korea After decades of restrictions on North Korean literature, the ROK government has initiated reforms on the WPK’s flagship newspaper as it seeks to engage Pyongyang.

SinoNK dives into #President Lee Jae-myung’s decision to grant South Korean citizens wider access to the DPRK’s flagship party #newspaper, "Rodong Sinmun", a move which illuminates Lee's strategy of wider engagement towards the DPRK.

➡️ Read below
sinonk.com/2026/01/09/r...

Smuggling and Border Security in Hunchun Hunchun in Jilin province has stepped up border security and anti-smuggling operations on its North Korea frontier.

This week, SinoNK explores #smuggling and #bordersecurity in Hunchun, the only #Chinese county which lies on the frontiers of both #NorthKorea and #Russia…

➡️Click below to read
sinonk.com/2026/01/06/s...

One Vision, Two Realities: Inside Urban and Rural North Korean Nurseries in the 1950s Post-war era saw emergence of a ‘scientific’ childhood model – and a growing divide between cities and the countryside in the DPRK.

At SinoNK this week, new research from analyst Anqi Gao traces the origins of #NorthKorean nurseries, and with it, a key moment in the history of #women and their evolving role in #DPRK society…

➡️Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/12/23/o...

RG242 Files: Rare Early Political Prisoner Data from North Korea NARA file from 1947 offers unique official snapshot of political detainees in early North Korea under Soviet rule, the origin of persistent rights abuses today.

In his second instalment of the RG242 Files series, Stephen Finch explores early political prisoner data from North Korea in the documents seized by US forces from the DPRK during the Korean War.

➡️Click below to read now
sinonk.com/2025/12/16/r...

After Berlin: Assessing UK Foreign Office Talks on Korean Unification in the 1990s FCO archive release shows division on reunification discussions between ROK Embassy, and British officials and scholars soon after Soviet collapse.

In newly released foreign office archival documents, Luke Thrumble, takes us through the UK foreign office’s attitude to Korean unification in the 1990s following the reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989...

➡️ Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/12/12/a...

Man-Made No More: A Review of ‘Women-led Grassroots Capitalism’, by Dalton and Jung Pioneering work sources dozens of DPRK migrants to determine female role in shift from state to market economy.

Anqi Gao reviews 'Women-led Grassroots Capitalism', a recently published book by Bronwen Dalton and Kyung-ja Jung, and builds on both authors' established scholarly trajectory, focusing on the economic empowerment and changing roles of DPRK women.

➡️Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/12/19/m...

Dropping Denuclearisation: North Korea in China and US Defence Priorities US and Chinese government decisions to soften tone on nuclear threat represents latest positive for Pyongyang amid improving ties with global powers.

SinoNK discusses Washington and Beijing's recent pivot away from featuring the DPRK's nuclear disarmament within their security dialogue and whether this points to a growing acceptance of the DPRK as a nuclear state...

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sinonk.com/2025/12/09/d...

Divergent Foreign Policy on the Korean Peninsula, and ROK Security Priorities With Pyongyang leaning towards Moscow, and the US focusing more on China than North Korea, Peninsula security priorities have entered a period of flux.

Anthony Rinna traces the diverging geopolitical concerns of the DPRK and ROK, with the DPRK taking a position of deeper orientation towards Moscow, whilst the ROK's strategic posture shifts to accommodate the security objectives of the Trump administration.

➡️Read below
sinonk.com/2025/12/02/d...

Business as Usual: Liaoning Leads China-DPRK Trade Revival Sharp increase in trade with China’s main gateway to the DPRK comes amid signs of North Korea’s economic reopening after Covid-19.

Increased trade between the DPRK and China is not felt more strongly than in the border province of Liaoning, which serves as the economic gateway for Chinese trade into DPRK and a litmus test of bilateral relations between Beijing and Pyongyang.

➡️ Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/11/28/b...

In his latest article, Anthony Rinna discusses Moscow's interest in revising the security landscape on its Pacific borders and the emergence of DPRK as a maritime actor within Russia’s quest for strategic depth.

➡️Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/11/25/s...

Beyond CRINK: Southeast Asia in North Korea’s New Diplomacy Recent flurry of high-level contact with Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia points to expansion of DPRK diplomacy beyond China and Russia.

What does the presence of communist leaders of Vietnam and Laos, To Lam and President Thongloun Sisoulith, at the 80th anniversary of the Korean Workers Party, illustrate about North Korea’s global diplomatic efforts?

➡️ Find out below
sinonk.com/2025/11/18/b...

Liaoning Leadership: Party Secretaries in Dandong and the Top Provincial Job Appointments of Xu Kunlin and Song Cheng as CCP heads of Liaoning and Dandong indicate greater focus on economy and security.

Following SinoNK's article on corruption in Liaoning customs bureaus, our latest instalment reports on the recent promotees of the CCP,
Xu Kunlin (许昆林) and Song Cheng (宋诚), in efforts to distil corruption in the province bordering North Korea

➡️ Read more below
sinonk.com/2025/11/14/l...

Betting on Moscow: DPRK’s Overtures to Belarus Reflect Broader Russia Priority In courting Belarus, North Korea is further expanding its connections to Russia, and related Eurasian security imperatives following KPA deployment in Ukraine.

Senior Researcher at SinoNK, Anthony Rinna unpacks the recent meeting of North Korean and Belarusian foreign ministers and what this holds for the future Eurasian security landscape and the DPRK’s own security strategy.

➡️ Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/11/11/b...

Diplomatic Review, Oct 2025: First Visit by a Chinese Premier to the DPRK in 16 Years Li Qiang’s visit to Pyongyang to mark 80th WPK anniversary continues escalation in high-level diplomacy

In October's diplomatic review, SinoNK traces the first visit by a #Chinese premier to #NorthKorea in 16 years, the reopened postal route between #Dandong and #Sinuiju and Kim Jong-un’s recent visit to the CPV martyrs’ cemetery in Hoechang.

➡️ Click below to read now
sinonk.com/2025/11/07/d...

The Long Crane of the Law: Liaoning Corruption and the Customs Bureau Chinese President Xi Jinping steps up anti-corruption drive against customs officials amid strong trade growth with the DPRK and South Korea

SinoNK's @adamcathcart traces an ongoing anti-corruption campaign in the Liaoning customs bureau, where the arrest of Liu Dali, a former head of customs in Dalian, takes place within a wider trend of anti-corruption directives from the CCP.

➡️ Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/11/04/t...

Yongusil: Russia’s New Great Game on the Korean Peninsula Russia’s recent embrace of North Korea represents a Northeast Asia gambit that goes beyond transactional bilateralism and the conflict in Ukraine

Anthony Rinna’s latest #article analyses the recent upsurge of #DPRK and #Russia bilateral relations in which #security has taken its place as the central theme...

➡️ Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/10/31/y...

Sino-NK Sino-NK is a research website for Sinologists and Koreanists.

This week, SinoNK uncovers materials drawn from Record Group 242 at the US National Archives in Maryland, exploring corruption within the inner workings of the DPRK’s first higher education establishment: Kim Il Sung University.

➡️ Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/10/28/r...

Relative Power: A Review of ‘The Sister’, by Sung-Yoon Lee First book-length take on Kim Yo-jong, youngest sibling of North Korea’s ruler, examines the sudden rise of Pyongyang’s most powerful woman

This week, Yujin Lim reviews Sung-yoon Lee’s book, ‘The Sister', based on Kim Yo-jong’s enigmatic rise to prominence in the DPRK and her unprecedented influence as a woman in a deeply patriarchal society.

➡️ Click below to read
sinonk.com/2025/10/24/r...

The Road Home: A Study of Stalin’s Mass Deportation of Koreans Play captures arduous life on the Kazakh steppe for hundreds of thousands of Koreans displaced across the Soviet Union in the late 1930s

SinoNK's latest article explores 'The Road Home', a play from the State Academic Korean Theatre of Kazakhstan in Almaty. Alice Ashcroft traces 'The Road Home' as an evocative portrayal of the intersections between Kazakh and Korean history.
sinonk.com/2025/10/21/t...

Aborted Tourism Reopening Reflects Geopolitical Priorities in Pyongyang Russian tourists first in line amid limited acceptance of foreign visitors, as Chinese tour groups fail to return to DPRK border destinations Sinuiju, Manpo, and Samjiyon

In a new article, Eliza Betts tracks the re-emergence of tourism into the DPRK, questioning if Russian nationalities at the front of the queue reflect changing geopolitical priorities for the state.
sinonk.com/2025/10/15/a...

Remembering ‘the most Lovable People’: 75 years on, China invokes Korean War Spirit Under President Xi, China has initiated a resurgence in education and cultural production around its Korean War history

Have China’s recently elevated cultural activities to memorialise the Korean War emerged amid fractured Sino-US relations?
SinoNK editor Stephen Finch discusses this and more in his latest article. sinonk.com/2025/10/15/r...

Natural Disasters and Public Security Education in Changbai Facing Hyesan across a narrow stretch of the Yalu River, Changbai near Mt Paektu represents China’s frontline for border-related risks

In a recently published article, Adam Cathcart and George Robertson analyse the propagandistic current of border-strengthening and community-building which flows through recently published, Changbai-focused articles on the Chinese social media channel WeChat…
sinonk.com/2025/10/15/n...

Updating the Eternal President: A Review of ‘Accidental Tyrant’, by Fyodor Tertitskiy Concise work on Kim Il-sung’s life represents the closest account yet to a definitive biography, with fresh insights into the dictator’s rise to power

In a recently published review, Stephen Finch traces how Accidental Tyrant sets a new benchmark in North Korean biographical research.

Find Sino-NK's exclusive interview with the author Fydor Tertitskiy and a review of Accidental Tyrant, at sinonk.com

#NorthKorea #KimIlSung #EastAsia #EastAsia

Sino-NK Sino-NK is a research website for Sinologists and Koreanists.

Announcing the return of Sino-NK!

A new era of analysis on the China–North Korea borderlands: history, politics, and transnational ties at the edges of empire.

Explore the latest features now live at sinonk.com - link in bio

#SinoNK #NorthKorea #China #Borderlands #KoreanStudies #EastAsia