Andrei Nikolaevich Lankov (russian: Андрей Николаевич Ланьков; born 26 July 1963) is a Russian scholar of Asia and a specialist in

Korean studies Korean studies is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of Korea, which includes the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and diasporic Korean populations. Areas commonly included under this rubric include Ko ...

and Director of Korea Risk Group, the parent company of NK News and NK Pro.

Early life and education

Lankov was born on 26 July 1963, in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

(modern day

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

). He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Leningrad State University in 1986 and 1989, respectively. He also attended

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

Kim Il-sung University Kim Il-sung University, founded on 1 October 1946, is the first university built in North Korea. It is located on a campus in Pyongyang, the nation's capital. Along with the main academic buildings, the campus contains 10 separate offices, 50 l ...

in 1985.

Career

Following his graduate studies, Lankov taught Korean history and language at his alma mater, and in 1992 went to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

for work; he moved to Australia in 1996 to take up a post at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

, and moved back to

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

to teach at

Kookmin University Kookmin University () is the first private university founded after the liberation of the Republic of Korea from Japan. The campus is located in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The KMU was established in 1946. Gu kim, Soang Jo and Ikhee Shin, who ...

in 2004. Lankov has written in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

(his native language),

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

, and English. He runs a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

-themed

Livejournal LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, a ...

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

, where he documents aspects of life in North (and South) Korea, together with his musings and links to his publications. He has written a column for the English-language daily ''

The Korea Times ''The Korea Times'' is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the '' Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean language daily; both are owned by Dongwha Enterprise, a wood-based manufacture ...

'' for 15 years and also for ''

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Tele ...

'' and '' Al Jazeera English''. Lankov has been a regular contributor to NK News and its premium research platform NK Pro since 2012. In May 2017, he became a Director of Korea Risk Group, the parent company of these platforms and committed to writing exclusively for the firm, outside of his academic commitments.

Books

* * * * * * * *

References

External links

Andrei Lankov
on Telegram *
The interview with Lankov (Video)
by RT

by Andrei Lankov, ''Asia Policy''
The Natural Death of North Korean Stalinism
by Andrei Lankov, ''Asia Policy'' (January 2006)
Pyongyang Strikes Back: North Korean Policies of 2002–08 and Attempts to Reverse "De-Stalinization from Below"
by Andrei Lankov, ''Asia Policy'' (July 2009)
The Death of Juche? A roundtable discussion about the growth of markets in North Korea
at Center for Free Enterprise, (28 September 2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lankov, Andrei Nikolaevich 1963 births Living people Australian National University faculty Saint Petersburg State University faculty Saint Petersburg State University alumni Kim Il-sung University alumni Koreanists Russian expatriates in North Korea Russian expatriates in South Korea Russian expatriates in Australia Experts on North Korea Kookmin University faculty