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North Korean escapee and Global Peace Foundation lead strategist Hyunseung Lee joins the podcast to discuss his recent article examining what the first seven days after Kim Jong Un’s death might look like, following the spread of false rumors about the North Korean leader’s condition. Drawing on his experiences living through the deaths of Kim Il Sung in 1994 and Kim Jong Il in 2011, Lee explains how North Korea managed previous leadership transitions and why he believes the country’s tightly structured political and military systems could prevent immediate instability in the event of another succession. The conversation also explores who might take power without a publicly confirmed successor, including why Lee considers Kim Yo Jong a more likely interim leader than Kim Jong Un’s young daughter, Kim Ju Ae. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
Former U.S. Under Secretary of State Bonnie Jenkins joins North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot to discuss the growing gap between Washington’s denuclearization goals and North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal, the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence in South Korea and the prospects for renewed diplomacy between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Jenkins explains why Washington remains unwilling to recognize North Korea as a nuclear-armed state despite Pyongyang’s insistence that its nuclear status is irreversible. She also explores whether interim arms control measures, such as a nuclear testing moratorium or international safety inspections, could offer a starting point for negotiations. The conversation then turns to growing doubts about U.S. security commitments in South Korea, the debate over Seoul developing its own nuclear weapons and the implications of North Korea’s deepening relationship with Russia. Bonnie Jenkins is an American diplomat and arms control expert who served as U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She previously served as the State Department’s Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs and has worked for more than three decades on nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament and international security policy. About the podcast: North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot is a monthly long-form interview series from the NK News Podcast, featuring in-depth conversations with experts and specialists on North Korea. The regular weekly NK News Podcast, hosted by Alannah Hill, continues to cover the latest developments in the North Korea news cycle.
Korea Risk Group Executive Director Jeongmin Kim joins the NK News Podcast this week to discuss Kim Jong Un’s surprise visit to China, the reopening of a long-delayed border bridge and escalating military tensions between North and South Korea. She explains why Kim’s unconventional one-day trip to Dandong signals a pragmatic approach to diplomacy focused on economic cooperation, and examines the significance of the newly opened Yalu River Bridge and what it could mean for bilateral trade. The conversation then turns to Kim Yo Jong’s recent visit to the inter-Korean border alongside senior military officials, and her threats to resume loudspeaker broadcasts toward South Korea. Kim discusses how Pyongyang is seeking to pressure Seoul into reducing warning shots that disrupt North Korean border construction, while increasingly lowering the threshold for military retaliation. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
Editor’s note: This interview was recorded in July 2026. Some references to recent events and political developments reflect the situation at the time of recording and may differ from subsequent developments. German political scientist Carlo Masala joins North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot to discuss his book “If Russia Wins: A Scenario,” why a Korean-style armistice may not provide a lasting solution to the war in Ukraine and what a Russian victory could mean for security on the Korean Peninsula. Masala explains why he believes the U.S. military presence has been central to maintaining deterrence in South Korea and how a withdrawal of American forces could change North Korea’s calculations. He also examines what Pyongyang is learning from Russia’s war in Ukraine, including the continued importance of troop numbers, electronic warfare and the vulnerabilities of technologically advanced militaries. The conversation then turns to the growing connections between European and Asian security, including the possibility of North Korea creating a crisis on the peninsula to divert attention from Russian or Chinese military operations elsewhere. Carlo Masala is a professor of international politics at the Bundeswehr University Munich, specializing in security policy, military strategy and international relations. About the podcast: North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot is a monthly long-form interview series from the NK News Podcast, featuring in-depth conversations with experts and specialists on North Korea. The regular weekly NK News Podcast, hosted by Alannah Hill, continues to cover the latest developments in the North Korea news cycle.
NK News Correspondent Joon Ha Park joins the podcast this week to discuss his exclusive interview with Canada’s Chief of the Defense Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan on what North Korea is gaining from its military cooperation with Russia and how Canada could help South Korea prepare for emerging security threats. Park explains why North Korean troops’ growing battlefield experience in Ukraine is raising concerns among Canada and its allies, particularly as Pyongyang gains exposure to drone warfare and electronic warfare tactics. He explains Carignan’s view on how Canada could share lessons learned from training Ukrainian forces since 2015 and expand cooperation with South Korea on drones, automated systems and military exercises. The conversation then turns to North Korea’s cyber operations, including Carignan’s characterization of Pyongyang as effectively “at war” with multiple countries in cyberspace. Park discusses the challenges facing South Korea’s cyber defenses and why closer intelligence sharing between Ottawa and Seoul remains difficult despite recent agreements to strengthen their security partnership. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
Edward Goldring, senior lecturer in political science at the University of Melbourne and author of the new book “Purges: How Dictators Fight to Survive,” joins the podcast to discuss why authoritarian leaders remove senior officials and what those purges can reveal about political survival. Goldring explains why a purge does not necessarily mean imprisonment or execution, defining it more broadly as the removal of an elite from a dictator’s inner circle. He argues that dictators generally purge elites for three main reasons: to consolidate power, punish disloyalty or scapegoat officials when leaders face pressure from below. The conversation also looks at the reported execution of economic official Pak Nam Gi after the failed 2009 currency reform and the 2013 purge of Jang Song Thaek. Goldring discusses why dramatic purges are not always signs of strength, arguing that leaders often use them when they are still relatively weak and trying to consolidate power, and explores whether purges can actually prevent coups. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
NK News Correspondent Joon Ha Park and Michael Bosack, former deputy secretary of the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission, join the podcast this week to discuss the Sept. 21 landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), what investigators have established about the North Korean mine involved and why questions remain over how it ended up south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). Park explains how the investigation progressed from an initially unidentified explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers to the discovery of an active North Korean anti-personnel mine south of the MDL and a U.N. Command determination that an Armistice Agreement violation occurred. Bosack explains why the presence of a North Korean mine does not by itself establish an intentional attack, arguing that investigators need to consider motive, timing of emplacement and whether the location was somewhere South Korean troops could reasonably have been expected to patrol. He also discusses the wider risks posed by millions of mines and other unexploded ordnance in the DMZ, the difficulty of identifying the poorly marked MDL on the ground and how repeated North Korean crossings during construction work could lead to accidental violations. The episode concludes with a discussion of North Korea’s response to the incident, the options available to Seoul and the U.N. Command through established armistice mechanisms and the lessons of the 2015 DMZ landmine crisis. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
NK News Data Correspondent Anton Sokolin and Lead Correspondent Shreyas Reddy join the podcast this week to discuss Russia’s new ambassador to North Korea, Pyongyang’s latest cyber operations and the growing dispute between Seoul and Kyiv over two North Korean prisoners of war. Anton explains what the arrival of veteran diplomat Andrei Podelyshev signals about Moscow’s priorities in Pyongyang, how his lower-profile style may differ from longtime predecessor and why his first visits to Soviet and DPRK war memorials underscore the increasingly institutionalized relationship between the two countries. Shreyas then breaks down North Korea’s suspected role in the year’s largest cryptocurrency heist so far, which saw roughly $352 million stolen from exchange Bitget and pushed estimated DPRK-linked crypto theft above $1 billion in 2026. The episode concludes with a discussion on Ukraine’s transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea and the diplomatic fallout after President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly revealed the move at the U.N. General Assembly. They also discuss what intelligence the soldiers can provide about North Korea’s deployment to Russia and what their resettlement in South Korea could look like after an unprecedented journey from the battlefield in Kursk. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
This month, Kenneth Bae joins North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot to discuss the 735 days he spent detained in North Korea, how repeated visits to the country shaped his understanding of ordinary North Koreans and what his imprisonment revealed about the state’s security system. He recounts how he traveled to North Korea 17 times before being arrested on his 18th trip in 2012, after border officials discovered a hard drive containing foreign documentaries about the country. Bae describes the months of interrogation that followed, the threats of execution, the confession he says he was pressured to sign and his eventual sentence of 15 years of hard labor. The conversation then turns to his work today, including New Korea Hope Broadcasting, which uses shortwave radio to send news, information and messages of encouragement into North Korea. Kenneth Bae is a Korean-American missionary and businessman who was detained in North Korea from 2012 to 2014. He is the author of Not Forgotten: The True Story of My Imprisonment in North Korea and founder of New Korea Foundation International. In 2026, he launched New Korea Hope Broadcasting, a radio service aimed at providing North Koreans with outside information and messages of hope. About the podcast: North Korea Unpacked with Jacco Zwetsloot is a monthly long-form interview series from the NK News Podcast, featuring in-depth conversations with experts and specialists on North Korea. The regular weekly NK News Podcast, hosted by Alannah Hill, continues to cover the latest developments in the North Korea news cycle.
North Korean defector and George W. Bush Institute program manager Joseph Kim joins the podcast to discuss his recent NK News opinion column arguing that analysts and policymakers focus too heavily on Kim Jong Un while overlooking the role ordinary North Koreans could play in shaping the country’s future. He explains why he believes North Korea should be understood as a country experiencing profound social change rather than simply a nuclear-armed state controlled from the top. The conversation also explores how the growth of informal markets has changed both the economic lives and thinking of North Koreans, creating spaces to exchange information and reducing dependence on the state. Joseph reflects on his own experience surviving around the jangmadang, the impact of the failed 2009 currency reform and whether marketization could ultimately strengthen the regime as well as weaken it. He also discusses the role of foreign media, arguing that increasingly harsh punishments for consuming outside information reveal how seriously Pyongyang views the threat it poses to state propaganda. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.
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