About the author
More articles by 'Andrei Lankov'
Risky business: How a North Korean woman smuggled and bribed her way to success
Kim Mi Sook shunned typical women’s jobs for dangerous but profitable ventures, making it big as a money broker
How North Korea’s warped history puts Pyongyang at the center of everything
Children in DPRK learn that treasonous southerners collaborating with a foreign power led to division a millennia ago
How North Korean police corruption became essential to the growth of markets
Businesspeople pay bribes to police in order to create the space necessary for them to buy, sell and trade their wares
How North Korea turned a civil war conflict into anti-US propaganda
North Korea revived a major anti-American holiday last month, spotlighting a gruesome episode from the Korean War
How North Korea could control the South without ever conquering it
The much larger ROK is too unwieldy to absorb, but DPRK could still exact monetary tribute and exert political power
How the private market brought pork to the table in North Korea
When state planning failed to deliver a steady supply of meat, Kim Il Sung handed the reins to private pig farmers
The extraordinarily normal life of a North Korean woman from a rural town
Move from countryside to career to housewife typifies apolitical path of majority that rarely questions DPRK society
Why North Korea’s COVID-19 outbreak won’t be a death sentence for Kim regime
Malnutrition and poor healthcare may cause more deaths than statistics show, but mainly among elderly and poor
Why Pyongyang’s top elites still cling to visions of a post-money society
Public distribution of food and consumer goods entrenches North Korea’s rigid caste system even further
How women run the small business world inside North Korea
Capitalist markets inside the country have propelled many women to be the primary breadwinners of their families
