Content Author | NK PRO
NK Pro Logo
January 31, 2025

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Benjamin R. Young

Benjamin R. Young

Benjamin R. Young, Ph.D. has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dakota State University and the U.S. Naval War College. He is currently a Stanton Foundation Nuclear Security Fellow at the RAND Corporation. He is the author of the book "Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World" (Stanford University Press, 2021).

Opinion

The myth of human wave attacks obscures what North Korea is learning in Ukraine

Stereotypes about communist tactics risk minimizing how DPRK troops are adjusting to modern combat in Kursk

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungJanuary 30, 2025
Opinion

North Korea’s bold turn toward Russia poses test for Trump’s second term

Kim Jong Un has thrown off isolation to support invasion of Ukraine, but Trump’s rapport with leader provides an opening

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungNovember 28, 2024
Features

Spick and span: How North Korea’s clean streets sanitize its image abroad

Foreign friends and foes have long fixated on Pyongyang’s tidiness, highlighting regime’s success in hiding its flaws

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungAugust 30, 2024
Opinion

Biden’s North Korea policy has failed. It’s time for something different.

Trump has been willing to ditch Beltway fantasy of complete denuclearization and should pursue arms control if reelected

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungJuly 19, 2024
Analysis

Why North Korea overhauled its foreign policy focus from small fry to big fish

DPRK once cultivated ties with smaller nations but has now set its sights on more powerful players, and Russia above all

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungJune 28, 2024
Analysis

The revolutionary axis linking North Korea, Iran and Hamas

DPRK weapons and unique expertise are a welcome asset for Iran and its proxies in a global assault on US leadership

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungApril 9, 2024
Analysis

Cuba’s move to establish ties with Seoul betrays North Korea’s economic weakness

Pyongyang is likely fuming over perceived disloyalty of longtime ally, but bilateral ties have been marginal for years

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungFebruary 22, 2024
Analysis

White Juche: How North Korea captured the imagination of the global far right

White nationalists and neo-Nazis have held up DPRK as model of racial purity and autarky, despite its Marxist trappings

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungNovember 13, 2023
Analysis

How North Korean propaganda remembers the genocide of Native Americans

Kim regime holds up America’s sins to paint US as incorrigible colonizer and deflect from its own human rights abuses

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungMay 1, 2023
Analysis

The Ukraine war has drawn North Korea back into Moscow’s political orbit

Pyongyang has offered vocal and material support for Russia’s invasion and stands to gain as conflict enters second year

Benjamin R. YoungBenjamin R. YoungFebruary 22, 2023
1 2 3 4 9