NORTH KOREAN
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NORTH KOREAN STUDIES
EVENTS
Upcoming Events
※ Title: Fallout: The Inside Story of America’s Failure to Disarm North Korea
Host: Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Date: November 7th, 2025, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Location: In-person at School of International and Public Affairs (420 West 118th Street, Room 918, New York, NY 10027)
Sign up: https://ckr.weai.columbia.edu/events/fallout-inside-story-americas-failure-disarm-north-korea
Description:
Joel S. Wit’s upcoming book “Fallout: The Inside Story of America’s Failure to Disarm North Korea provides a masterful account of why U.S. efforts to halt North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have repeatedly fallen short. Drawing on more than 300 interviews with policymakers in Washington, Beijing, Seoul, and even Pyongyang, Wit reconstructs the high-stakes negotiations and secret diplomatic strategies that shaped nearly four decades of nuclear diplomacy. Wit challenges prevailing narratives by offering a nuanced portrait of Kim Jong Un—not as irrational or impulsive—but as a strategic negotiator using nuclear escalation as leverage. He argues that transformations under the Obama and Trump administrations accelerated Pyongyang’s capabilities, making the North a threat to every U.S. city.
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※ Title: Special Open Lecture: Cho Sun-ju
Host: Yonsei PSCORE
Date: November 10th, 2025, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location: In-person at Yonsei Univ. Sinchon Campus
Sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdpfoARBIYFcATqjWzf24RBm4trQfnHF9dJYJd7dLhpr0ityg/viewform
Description:
Yonsei PSCORE is hosting a talk given by host Cho Sun-Ju (조선주), a North Korean defector and former marketplace trader (장마당 상인), about her personal experiences living and doing business in North Korea. This lecture is open to all Yonsei students, whether or not they're part of Yonsei PSCORE! Come hear her inspiring story, followed by an open Q&A session.
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※ Title: Korea's Place in an Uncertain World: Challenges and Opportunities
Host: Harvard University Korea Institute
Date: November 13, 2025 04:30PM - 06:00PM America/New York
Location: Hybrid (In-person at Reading Room, Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138)
Description:
TBD
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※ Title: Andrei Lankov With the Lecture “North Korea: From Socialism to Capitalism — and a Little Bit Back” in Dubai
Host: AKB
Date: Sunday, November 16th, 2025 (English lecture from 17:00, Russian lecture from 19:30)
Location: The Fridge Warehouse, Alserkal Avenue (#5 Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz 1 Dubai - Dubai - United Arab Emirates)
Description:
North Korea is not just “the last Stalinist state.” It is a laboratory of survival, where a spontaneous market coexists with total control. The old socialist system collapsed in the 1990s — from its ruins emerged a black market, then a semi-legal one, and now an almost official system of domestic capitalism. Why do the Kims tolerate this? How does this hybrid economy function? And why is that “little step back” also part of the strategy? In his lecture, Andrei Lankov will explain how North Korea balances between chaos and control, how its economy really works — and why things there are far from what they seem.
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※ Title: DPRK Cities Research Group, 3rd International Conference: The Withering Panopticon? Evidence from Everyday Life in North Korean Cities
Host: DPRK Cities Research Group, Soongsil Institute for Peace and Unification, Soongsil University
Date: November 20th, 2025 (Thursday)
Location: Soongsil Institute for Peace and Unification (Seoul, South Korea)
Sign up: https://www.linkedin.com/events/iamfromnorthkorea-englishspeech7307709356874088449/
Description:
Join us in exploring how marketization, decentralization, localization, and the expanded use of digital technology are reshaping everyday life – and state power – across North Korean cities. We invite contributions to examine whether North Korea’s panopticon-style surveillance and control mechanisms are in decline.