Understanding Kim Jong-un's North Korea

This book provides broad, deep insight into how North Korea calculates, balances, and addresses key policy challenges. The authors—Korean, European, and American—have extensive experience in North Korea and with North Koreans, crucial to addressing the myths and misconceptions about how the North functions and perceives the world.

Robert Carlin is consultant at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. Chung-in Moon is chairman of the Sejong Institute in Seoul, Korea.

Introduction by Robert Carlin and Chung-in Moon Chapter 1: To What Extent and How Do We Know About North Korea? Linking Contextual Intelligence to Sound Policy by Robert Carlin Chapter 2: Can the Kim Jong-un Regime Survive? by Jong Seok Lee Chapter 3: The North Korean Economy in Crisis: Prospects for Reform and Policy Options by Rüdiger Frank Chapter 4: Kim Jong-un's Economic Reform and Opening: Opportunities, Constraints, and Prospects by Dongho Jo Chapter 5: North Korean Society at a Crossroad: Change and Continuity in the Kim Jong-un era by Sung Kyung Kim Chapter 6: North Korea's Foreign Policy: A Revisionist State, An Alliance with China, or A Third Way? by Jung-Chul Lee Chapter 7: The Status and Role of the North Korean Military During the Kim Jong-un Period by Gee-Dong Lee Chapter 8: Nuclear North Korea: A Path Forward in View of Facts, Myths and Uncertainties by Siegfried S. Hecker Chapter 9: International Sanctions on North Korea: Are They Working? by Thomas J. Biersteker and Zuzana Hudáková