black market

Could North Korea finally be enacting Chinese-style economic reforms?

January 8, 2015

SEOUL, South Korea — Is change brewing in North Korea, one of the world’s most totalitarian nations?At first glance, it would seem unlikely. For more than two decades, the fortress-like regime has evaded predictions of collapse and chaos, surviving war, famine, and economic ruin. It has mystified the world with its ability to stay put — despite its nuclear brinkmanship and naval skirmishes with neighbors.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Jan 8, 2015

Breaking Kim Jong Un: How North Korea became a meth hub

December 7, 2013

SEOUL, South Korea — Extradited from Thailand, the five suspects appeared before a New York court last month to face charges of a sensational plot: smuggling crystal meth from enemy number one, North Korea.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Dec 7, 2013

North Korea’s impending collapse: 3 grim scenarios

September 28, 2013

SEOUL, South Korea — According to conventional wisdom, North Korea is headed for collapse. The only question is when. The answer: maybe sooner than we might expect.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Sep 28, 2013

Telling Kim Jong Un’s ‘secrets’

June 21, 2013

SEOUL, South Korea — If North Korea’s government had its way, the world would know nothing about what really happens within the country’s borders. Journalism is essentially forbidden. Those who dare ask hard questions do so at the risk of torture and imprisonment.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Jun 21, 2013

The Real North Korea

May 10, 2013

For a glimpse into life in North Korea, take a peek into the country’s math textbooks. “During the Fatherland Liberation War [North Korea’s official name for the Korean War] the brave uncles of Korean People’s Army killed 265 American Imperial bastards in the first battle,” reads one question.

By Geoffrey Cain
The Christian Science Monitor

May 10, 2013

Watching Titanic in Pyongyang

July 1, 2011

What the first systematic survey of North Korean refugees tells us about life inside the Hermit Kingdom, and about whether the regime might be ready to fall.

By Geoffrey Cain
Washington Monthly

Jul 1, 2011

Vietnam: In the Year of the Cat, Tet brings less fanfare

January 31, 2011

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — On the surface, it seems like any other holiday. Revelers will bedeck their homes and cities with apricot blossoms, and will wedge opulent flower mosaics through the central streets of Ho Chi Minh City. Migrant workers will visit their families in the countryside, causing parts of cities to empty out.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Jan 31, 2011

The comic books that brainwash North Koreans

October 25, 2010

SEOUL, South Korea — Heinz Insu Fenkl, a literature professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, has cracked one secret to understanding the bizarre regime of North Korea: by reading its comic books.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Oct 25, 2010