NK News and NK Pro are independent, privately owned specialist information sources that focus on North Korea.
The sites intend to bring authoritative news, opinion & analysis, research tools, data and subject specialists together in one convenient place.
The service was established in April 2010 and has staff in the U.S., Europe and the Republic of Korea.
AN UNRIVALED RESOURCE OF INFORMATION, ANALYSIS AND NEWS ABOUT NORTH KOREA
In addition to our team of specialists who closely follow all developments in North Korea, ranging from the political and military to social and culture, we have a trusted network of anonymous sources both inside and outside the country who regularly help us bring exclusive news and shape our analysis.
This helps us give you a perspective that is different from regular news wires, where journalists are often shipped in and shipped out to give fast-turnaround reporting on breaking events without specialist long-term knowledge of the country.
IMPARTIALITY MATTERS
NK News aims to be the most evidence-based and reliable source of news, information and data on North Korea in the world. Funded almost entirely through user subscriptions, NK News has no agenda to fulfill beyond being an honest broker of timely and reliable information to its readers.
As a leader in the provision of wide-ranging North Korea-focused data and information, NK News is subscribed by users in areas including government, media, academia, military, not-for-profit and business.
TOOLS & DATA
NK News is a provider of primary and secondary data on North Korea that is unavailable anywhere else and a host to research tools specifically tailored for users within government, business, academia and journalism.
Our specialist North Korea news and information aggregation service is the most comprehensive in the world. Built especially for those working on the topic, the system monitors more than 120 sources providing regular output on the country.
NORTH KOREA FORUM
We are a vibrant and popular platform for intellectual exchange on an isolated state, traditionally covered in mainstream media from a perspective that demonstrates little knowledge of the language, culture and complicated history of the Korean Peninsula.
Regular opinion writers on the site include thought leaders such as Andrei Lankov, Uzi Rubin, Fyodor Tertitskiy, Tatiana Gabroussenko, Peter Ward, Aidan-Foster Carter, Christopher Green and more.
LEADING EXPERTS, JOURNALISTS & COLUMNISTS
Every day, NK News gets you behind the headlines with analysis from some of the world’s leading experts on North Korea, insight from both North Korean and defector voices, and opinions from academics, former residents and leading international observers.
Specialist journalists at NK News provide news coverage on North Korea as stories break: Chad O’Carroll, Nils Weisensee, Colin Zwirko, Jeongmin Kim, Ifang Bremer, Shreyas Reddy, James Fretwell and Seung-Yeon Chung.
Furthermore, a wide range of voices share their views and experiences about North Korea on a weekly basis, including refugee writers Lee Je-son, Kim Yoo-sung and Kang Ji-min of the Ask a North Korean column, as well as Camila Stub (pseudonym), who has worked as a development worker in Pyongyang.
CORE TEAM
In addition to our experts and journalists, NK News is staffed by a core team that includes:
Chad O’Carroll – CEO
Chad O’Carroll is the CEO and founder of NK News, and a respected journalist and researcher with a specialization in North Korea. He is based in Seoul.
Dr. Andrei Lankov – Director/Contributor
Dr. Andrei Lankov, one of the world’s leading names in North Korea studies, is the leading NK News contributor and also contributes to the site in an additional role as a strategic advisor. He is based in Seoul.
Nils Weisensee – Director Of News Operations
Nils Weisensee is the Director of News Operations at Korea Risk Group and covers cybersecurity for NK Pro. He previously founded information security firm Frontier Intelligence, served as head of operations at non-profit Choson Exchange, and was a reporter for DAPD and the Associated Press.
Bryan Betts – Managing Editor
Bryan Betts is the Managing Editor of NK News. He has covered the Koreas for Yonhap News Agency, The Diplomat and Korea Exposé and previously worked as a newspaper reporter in South Carolina and New Mexico.
Alannah Hill – Deputy Managing Editor
Alannah Hill is the Deputy Managing Editor at Korea Risk Group. Prior to joining the JoongAng Daily as an editor and KBS as a radio news anchor in Seoul, she worked as a radio reporter at RTHK in Hong Kong and as a reporter at Xinhua news agency in Ireland.
A NOTE ON THE ROMANIZATION OF NAMES
North and South Korea use different romanization methods when translating Korean language names into English. Although it is common practice for many news outlets to use the South Korean system, NK News uses the North Korean convention for North Korean names and the South Korean convention for South Korean names, in accordance with what we assume each individual’s personal preference would most likely dictate.
In North Korea, Kim Il Sung is written as three separate names. “Kim” is the family name, “Il Sung” is the given name. Each part of the name is capitalized.
In South Korea, a hyphen would be used between the two syllables of the given name, or “Kim Il-sung.”
Kim Jong Un would therefore not be written as Kim Jong Eun, Kim Jong-eun or Kim Jong-un. Similarly, “Lee Myung Bak” would be incorrect, whereas “Lee Myung-bak” is fine.
Some names, such as Syngman Rhee, are already well-established anomalies to the rule, and are thus left untouched.
GUEST CONTRIBUTIONS
Want to contribute to NK News/NK Pro? Find out our contributor guidelines here and make a pitch. Our inbox is waiting for your idea.
