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North Korean studies is a sub-area of
Korean studies Korean studies is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of Korea, which includes South Korea, North Korea, and diasporic Korean populations. Areas commonly included under this rubric include Korean history, Korean culture, Korea ...
. The number of researchers is comparatively small. The only fully dedicated institution to the study area is the
University of North Korean Studies The University of North Korean Studies () is a university in Seoul, South Korea, that was founded in 2005 by merging Kyungnam University's North Korean studies department founded in 1997 and the Far East Problems Research Centre (극동문제연 ...
, Seoul, but many universities run undergraduate courses and postgraduate research programs. The field has been unable to achieve consensus on even some fundamental questions, such as whether North Korea should be characterized as a
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
or
fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
state and what is the level of involvement of the government in human right abuses. North Korean studies suffers from a lack of
primary sources In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
from the country, although the situation varies by decade. Sources from the 1940s are mostly Soviet documents available from archives. Documents from the 1950s are harder to come by. Some were smuggled out of the country, but the bulk of scholarship is done on reports of
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
embassies in North Korea. , Soviet documents from the 1960s are in the process of being declassified, but sources from Eastern European countries are already available. The availability of documents from the 1950s and especially the 1960s is contrasted with the fact that most of that which happened in North Korea took place outside of diplomatic circles, and foreign diplomats were given less and less information as time passed. Sources from the 1970s and 1980s are especially scarce outside of a selection of official publications. Beginning with the 1990s, scholarship has relied on testimonies of
North Korean defectors People defect from North Korea for political, material, and personal reasons. Defectors flee to various countries, mainly South Korea. In South Korea, they are referred to by several terms, including "northern refugees" and "new settlers". To ...
.


Academic departments

* Korea University Sejong Campus *
Dongguk University Dongguk University () is a private university in Jung District, Seoul, South Korea. A top-tier university acknowledged locally in Korea. It is one of the few Buddhist-affiliated universities in the world, and is a member of the International Asso ...
, 50 students *
University of Central Lancashire The University of Lancashire (previously abbreviated UCLan) is a public university based in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. It has its roots in ''The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge'', founded in 1828. Previously k ...
br>MA North Korean Studies

DPRK Strategic Research Center
KIMEP University KIMEP University (formerly: Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and Forecasting) is a private university founded in 1992 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. History KIMEP was founded in 1992 under the instructions of then-President Nursultan Naza ...


Academic projects

*
North Korea International Documentation Project The North Korea International Documentation Project (NKIDP) is part of the History and Public Policy Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. It seeks to serve as an informational clearinghouse on North Korea for both th ...
, NKIDP


Journals and webpages

* ''
38 North ''38 North'' is a website devoted to analysis about North Korea. Its name refers to the 38th parallel north which passes through the Korean peninsula and from 1945 until the start of the Korean War in 1950 divided the peninsula into North and So ...
'' – analysis website formerly at
Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
, now at
The Stimson Center The Stimson Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that analyzes issues related to global peace. It is named after the American lawyer and politician Henry L. Stimson. Stimson analyzes issues such as nuclear proliferation, arms traffick ...
*''Hyundae Pukhan Yongu – Contemporary North Korean Studies'' (현대 북한 연구) * ''
NK News NK News is an American subscription-based news website that provides stories and analysis about North Korea. Established in 2011, it is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea with reporters in Washington, D.C., and London. Reporting is based on in ...
'' – a news website * ''
Daily NK ''Daily NK'' () is an online newspaper based in Seoul, South Korea, where it reports on various aspects of North Korean society from information obtained from inside and outside of North Korea via a network of informants. North Korea is ranked 17 ...
'' – a news and opinion website * ''Sino-NK'' – an independent periodical * '' North Korea Review'' – previously published by the
Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...
* ''
North Korean Review ''North Korean Review'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Institute for North Korean Studies (INKS), at the University of Detroit Mercy in the United States. The journal was established in 2005 by INKS and McFarland & ...
'' – an English-language academic journal fully devoted to North Korean studies by
Yonsei University Yonsei University () is a Private university, private Christian university, Christian research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Yonsei is one of the three most prestigious universities in the country, part of a group referred to as SK ...
*
North Korea Tech North Korea Tech is a US-based blog authored by British journalist Martyn Williams which covers consumer electronics and technology developments in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It was established in 2010. North Korea Tech is based i ...
– technology analysis blog, affiliated with ''38 North'' * ''Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights'' – Quarterly journal (1996–2012) * ''International Journal of Korean Unification Studies'' *
Routledge Research on Korea Series
'.


Other DPRK-focused institutions conducting research

*
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), formerly known as the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, is a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental research organization that "seeks to raise awareness about conditions in Nort ...
* Database Center for North Korean Human Rights *
Korea Institute for National Unification The Korea Institute for National Unification is a think tank funded by the South Korean government focusing on issues related to Korean reunification. It is one of the 25 institutes under the auspices of the National Research Council for Econom ...
* People for Successful Corean Reunification


See also

*
Media coverage of North Korea Media coverage of North Korea (officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is hampered by an extreme lack of reliable information, coupled with an abundant number of sensationalist falsehoods. There are a number of reasons for th ...
* Satellite imagery in North Korea * :Experts on North Korea


References


Further reading

*


External links


NORTH KOREAN STUDIES – СЕВЕРОКОРЕЙСКИЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ
Articles and links to Web sites about contemporary North Korean society and politics, relations with Russia and Australia, and Soviet Koreans. *
Sino-NK
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