North Korea

Morocco's Misguided War on Terror

How the persecution of Islamists across North Africa, in the name of fighting terrorism, is sowing the seeds for future instability.

BY AIDA ALAMI | APRIL 9, 2010

They’re Not Brainwashed, They’re Just Miserable

What North Koreans really want.

BY MARCUS NOLAND | MARCH 30, 2010

Bipartisan Spring

Washington may be deeply polarized on domestic matters, but when it comes to foreign affairs, a remarkable consensus is taking shape.

BY ROBERT KAGAN | MARCH 3, 2010

Poster Children of the Hermit Kingdom

Foreigners are allowed few glimpses into the reality or mindset of North Korea today. But author B.R. Myers has managed to collect rare slides of North Korean propaganda posters, which illustrate the eerie mythology the government wants its impoverished people to believe.

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Nuclear Exchange

Ken Adelman thinks John Mueller is too dismissive of the nuclear threat.

MARCH/APRIL 2010

Planet War

From the bloody civil wars in Africa to the rag-tag insurgiences in Southeast Asia, 33 conflicts are raging around the world today, and it’s often innocent civilians who suffer the most.

BY KAYVAN FARZANEH, ANDREW SWIFT, PETER WILLIAMS | FEBRUARY 22, 2010

North Korea's Race Problem

What I learned in eight years reading propaganda from inside the Hermit Kingdom.

BY B.R. MYERS | MARCH/APRIL 2010

Life After Kim

As North Korea's Dear Leader celebrates his 69th birthday, it's worth asking what plans the United States has for Pyongyang once he's gone. Turns out, Washington doesn't have much.

BY SUNG-YOON LEE | FEBRUARY 16, 2010

Big Trouble With Big China

From Washington to Beijing, relations are looking more tense than ever. Here's a guide to which disputes matter -- and which are likely to blow over fast.

BY JOHN LEE | FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Nuclear Network Theory

We all know that terrorism comes from nonstate actors. So why is the nonproliferation world still focused on rogue countries instead?

BY MICHAEL KRAIG | OCTOBER 30, 2009

Trading With Kim

The way to Kim Jong Il’s heart is through his market.

BY SUSAN SHIRK, JOHN DELURY | OCTOBER 29, 2009

The Hermit Kingdom

An unchanging, irrational Stalinist dictatorship? Not so much.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009

Ain't No Sunshine

Kim Dae-jung may have been a democrat, but the late South Korean president was no saint. His true legacy will be one of utter failure in dealing with his northern neighbor.

BY SUNG-YOON LEE | AUGUST 24, 2009

Playing With a Full Deck

Lessons about nuclear deterrence from the poker table.

BY JAMES MCMANUS | SEPT. / OCT. 2009

How Big Is Your Rocket?

There's a new global space race on, as countries spend billions to join the nine that have successfully launched rockets into orbit. Here's a look at four of the contenders.

BY JAMES DOWNIE | SEPT. / OCT. 2009

Sound the Alarm

How to stop Burma from getting nukes.

BY CATHERINE COLLINS | JULY 24, 2009

Bird in Hand

One of the strongest multilateral sanctions architectures ever created already exists to pressure North Korea; it just needs to be enforced.

BY KARA C. MCDONALD | JULY 22, 2009

An Offer Kim Can't Refuse

Another round of sanctions and inspections won't work. It's time to talk to the North Koreans in the only language they understand.

BY RAUL PEDROZO | JUNE 24, 2009

The Rise of Kim Jong-Un

What we don't know about the Dear Leader's possible successor.

BY KEN E. GAUSE | APRIL 29, 2009

The Land of No Smiles

Renowned documentary photographer Tomas van Houtryve entered North Korea by posing as a businessman looking to open a chocolate factory. Despite 24-hour surveillance by North Korean minders, he took arresting photographs of Pyongyang and its people -- images rarely captured and even more rarely distributed in the West. They show stark glimmers of everyday life in the world's last gulag.

BY TOMAS VAN HOUTRYVE | APRIL 15, 2009

Ending North Korea's Endless Nuclear Drama

The best chance to curb Kim Jong Il's worst behavior is to think outside the box. Way outside.

BY MORTON ABRAMOWITZ | APRIL 10, 2009

What Kim Wants, Kim Gets

And now more than ever, proliferation is at the top of the Dear Leader's wish list.

BY WILLIAM H. TOBEY, MICHAEL J. GREEN | APRIL 6, 2009

Kim Calls the Shots

Passive U.S. policy is no cure for North Korean brinkmanship. Time to put a call in to China.

BY DONALD G. GROSS | APRIL 2, 2009

Pyongyang Panic

Kim Jong Il may be at death’s door, but don’t expect his successor to change North Korea.

BY STUART A. REID | NOVEMBER 5, 2008

The Secret History of Kim Jong Il

Few people have the chance to watch a shy young man grow into a ruthless dictator -- and live to talk about it. But, for one North Korean professor, Kim Jong Il is much more than the man holding his country hostage. He's a former student.

BY KIM HYUN SIK | SEPTEMBER 1, 2008

Sanctioning Force

JUNE 11, 2007

Kim Can Survive

APRIL 16, 2007

The FP Memo: How to Topple Kim Jong Il

A series of subtle, if not very sexy, policies could help the United States bring an end to North Korea's communist era.

BY ANDREI LANKOV | FEBRUARY 14, 2007

Escape from Pyongyang

BY JAMES CARD | OCTOBER 10, 2006

Evil's Heirs

You wouldn't think it could get much worse for those living in the world's worst dictatorships. But, sadly, it just might. FP takes a look at the next generation of tyrants and finds that sometimes the devil you know really is better than the one you don't.

JULY 1, 2005