What Is North Korea Like Behind the Headlines?

The Democratic People ’s Republic of Korea long has been known as the “Hermit Kingdom.” That label originally applied to the isolationist monarchy which eventually was swallowed by Japan and turned into a colony. For decades North Korea similarly looked inward. Visiting the DPRK, as I did in 1992, was a rare experi ence.The North is much more open today. When I returned two years ago I flew in sitting next to a Brit who was on his third tourist trip. He was planning a helicopter flight over the capital of Pyongyang, which would have been inconceivable only a few years ago.However, the country remains mysterious, even inscrutable, to most American policymakers. Few have spoken with someone who knows North Korea. Fewer have visited or met a North Korean. Policy is effectively made in an information vacuum, where assumptions and presumptions dominate the discussion.Equally important, Americans who do visit the DPRK —not many these days, given Washington’s ban on most travel there—typically stick to Pyongyang. That’s where important decisions are made. But the city is artificial even by North Korean standards. The countryside is rawer and poorer, and has changed much less than Pyongyang in recent years.To help expose the Washington policy community to the North beyond Pyongyang Cato is holding a policy forum, “Peering Beyond the DMZ: Understanding North Korea behind the Headlines, ” at noon on June 11.Our speakers will be Heidi Linton, with Christian Friends of ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs