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Author Interviews
Issue Article: The Pyongyang-Moscow Security Nexus: Ultimately Not What It Seems
Author: Nah Liang Tuang
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Nah Liang Tuang (PhD) is a research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He is also an academic instructor at the Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute, responsible for tutoring senior military officers in security studies, international relations, and national security policy. Liang Tuang’s research specialties include the strategy and politics of nuclear weapons, North Korean affairs, and the role of nationalism in state defense.
Issue Article: Security Dilemma’s Shadow: Historical Analysis of North Korea’s Nuclear Motivations During the 1950s-1960
Author: WooYun Jo
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Wooyun Jo is a doctoral researcher in politics and international studies at Loughborough University. His research specializes in international security, with a major focus on alliance politics and nuclear deterrence in East Asia. Before devoting his time to academia, Wooyun served as an officer in the Republic of Korea Army.
Issue Article: Children at the Center of Society: Prospects for the Study of Childhood in North Korea
Author: Bianca Trifoi
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Bianca Trifoi is a Ph.D. candidate at the George Washington University studying North Korean and Cold War history with a minor field in modern Chinese history. Her dissertation will analyze childhood in 1950s-60s North Korea—how the state defined childhood and constructed a particular North Korean child, and how concerns about children shaped North Korean society and national identity in the context of the Cold War. Her research consults Korean, English, Romanian, and Chinese sources.
Issue Article: Navigating North Korea’s Identity: A Cultural Theory Examination of Naming Practices and Implications for Engagement with the DPRK
Author: Zoe Stephens
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Zoe Stephens is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. She received her bachelor’s in modern languages and linguistics at Newcastle University (UK), an MA in international communication studies at the University of Nottingham (Ningbo, China), and an MSc in international security and global governance at Birkbeck (University of London). She combines her practical experience working in North Korean tourism with academic interests.
Issue Article: First Ladies of the DPRK: Categorizing the Roles of Kim Family Women Throughout North Korean History
Author: Elizabeth Campbell
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Elizabeth Campbell holds a PhD from Korea University’s North Korean studies department as well as degrees in history, philosophy, and cultural studies. Her research interests include North Korean propaganda, media, and culture, and her dissertation focused on the semiotics of images related to North Korean cuisine and food production. Dr. Campbell currently works in risk intelligence as a Peninsula specialist and security analyst.
Issue Article: The Spaces in Between: The Impact of Remittances on North Korean Mobility and Border Economy
Author: Queralt Boadella-Prunell
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Queralt Boadella-Prunell is a PhD candidate in Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). Her research focuses on North Korean mobility and remittance behavior of North Korean refugees. She has co-authored Struggle on Demand: Shaping Contemporary North Korea’s Public Sphere through Memory Politics (2022) with Dr. Sojin Lim and Sam Swash.
Issue Article: The Pragmatic Nationalist: Assessing Japan’s North Korea Policy Under Abe Shinzo
Author: Oliver Jia
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Oliver Jia is a Kyoto-based graduate student, pursuing his PhD in international relations at Ritsumeikan University. His research focuses on Japan-DPRK relations and comparative foreign policy. He works as a regular contributor and as the social media editor for NK News, a specialist North Korea news analysis website headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.