North Korea is a mystery to nearly everyone — even those who have dedicated their lives to studying the country — including Korean experts based in Seoul, national security experts in Washington or Beijing, and a variety of foreigners who have spent extended periods studying in or reporting from the North. There is great uncertainty about what the country’s leaders really think of China, how self-sufficient the North’s economy actually is, and even the background of the “respected” leader, Kim Jong-un, beyond a few seemingly random details (he studied in Switzerland and likes basketball and Whitney Houston, for example).
Evan Osnos — former Beijing correspondent for the New Yorker and now the magazine’s correspondent in the currently far more unpredictable capital of the U.S. — recently travelled to the Hermit Kingdom and reported an extensive cover piece for that magazine: “The risk of nuclear war with North Korea.”
What are the prospects for war and peace in northeast Asia? Evan talked with Jeremy and Kaiser about his conversations with North Korean, Chinese, and U.S. government officials and people involved in the complicated regional powerplay.
Recommendations:
Jeremy: Jeeves & Wooster, a comedy TV series adapted from the P.G. Wodehouse books about a gormless English aristocrat and his very bright butler, played by Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, respectively. It’s “really a wonderful escapist pleasure [for] when you don’t feel like thinking about Donald Trump and North Korea,” Jeremy adds.
Evan: The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot, a book by Blaine Harden that explains how North Koreans think about the Korean war — an essential piece of the current conundrum we all face.
Kaiser: China in Disintegration, by James Sheridan, a narrative history of the Republican Era (1912-1949) in China. Events during the period such as the Republican Revolution and the May Fourth Movement are key to understanding modern China.
Bonus Episode: Introducing the China Sports Insider Podcast
It's Complicated: Getting our heads around a changing China
Did tariffs make a difference in Trump’s trade war?
How Taiwan propelled China’s economic rise, with Shelley Rigger
Can China meet its ambitious emissions targets?
How the Chinese state handles labor unrest, with Manfred Elfstrom
The benefits of engagement with China, defined: An audit of the S&ED
What's the deal with the Red New Deal?
The state of the field: U.S. China programs, with Rosie Levine and Jan Berris of the NCUSCR
The paradox of vast corruption and fast growth in China's "Gilded Age"
Harvard’s William Overholt on Esquel, cotton sanctions, and forced Uyghur labor
Historian Adam Tooze on why China’s modern history should matter to Americans
Peter Martin on ‘China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy’
A conversation with Ambassador Huang Ping, consul general of the P.R.C.'s New York Consulate
Reflecting on China's poverty reduction with Bill Bikales
A data-driven dive into Chinese politics, with Stanford's Yiqing Xu
Avoiding ideological conflict with Beijing: Thomas Pepinsky and Jessica Chen Weiss
How China escaped shock therapy: Isabella Weber unpacks the debates of the 1980s
The Chinese Communist Party at 100
China's population conundrum, with UNC demographer Yong Cai
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