Kim Jong-un's North Korea: Are Things Really Changing?

 

Now beginning his fourth year as North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un is putting his own stamp on the country, including an emerging policy of economic reform. Andrei Lankov, one of the world’s foremost experts on North Korea, will analyze Kim’s motivations, the obstacles he faces, and the likely evolution of his economic and security policies in the coming months and years. Lankov will also suggest how the international community should respond.

Andrei Lankov was born in Leningrad (now Petersburg) and completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Leningrad State University, obtaining a PhD in 1989. He taught Korean history at the Australian National University from 1996 to 2004. Since 2004 he has been teaching at Kookmin University in Seoul where he is currently a professor at the college of social science. His major research interest is in North Korean history and society. Professor Lankov's English-language publications on North Korea include From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea, 1945-1960 (Rutgers University Press, 2003); Crisis in North Korea: the Failure of De-Stalinization, 1956 (Universiy of Hawaii Press, 2004); North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea (McFarland and Company, 2007); and The Real North Korea (Oxford University Press, 2013). He has published numerous academic articles, and contributed to major international media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, and Newsweek.