On the second day of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies’ North Korea week, Mr. Kim Heung Kwang, the Executive Director of the North Korea Intellectual Solidarity, gave a lecture entitled “North Korea’s Domestic Situation in 2012.” At the beginning of his remarks, Kim stressed that he tried to capture the “real picture of North Korea,” using real facts gathered from colleagues still in the country, so as to make the lecture more “meaningful” for the participants.

Kim briefly explained his background on North Korea, highlighting how he worked as a community college professor for thirteen years but ultimately decided to leave because he, “couldn’t find a bright future of the nation.” Kim then commented on Kim Jong-un’s recent rise to power. Specifically, he highlighted how to date, the young leader lacks any official accomplishments and therefore has been imitating his grandfather with the hopes that the North Korean people will embrace him as their leader. Kim concluded that after a temporary period of people having "hopes for a better future", the North Korean people are now “losing hope about the future.” Despite the regime’s ability to remain solvent, Kim said he believes the situation is “declining slowly.”