North Korea is the world's most militarized nation and one of the poorest; the government does whatever it can to prevent information from seeping across the borders. In the 1990's, famine killed between one and two million people, and the economy continues to struggle under US and UN sanctions due to the country's pursuit of nuclear weapons. So there's a bit of a change. A tiny crack has been opened to tourists in the hope that investors might see opportunity, but it's tourism of a very limited kind. We hear about the first visit, how defectors describe what life is really like and what the current prospects might be for reunification with South Korea.
A Glimpse at North Korea: The Hermit Kingdom
Credits
Guests:
- Keith Richburg - Harvard's Kennedy School of Government - @keithrichburg
- Barbara Demick - Author, "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" - @BarbaraDemick
- Victor Cha - Georgetown University / Center for Strategic and International Studies - @vcgiants