September 1, 2025, 9:02 am
What drives the North Korean Kim regime? It has persisted as a unique form of government through three generations. Its foundational myths and world view have persisted, even under today’s Kim Jong-un, a Geneva-educated, American popular culture-loving leader who achieved what his father and grandfather could not – direct negotiations with the United States administration and serious face time with a sitting US President.
What are the paradoxes of ‘Koreanism’ and North-South relations? What is meant by ‘reunification’ and ‘denuclearisation’ of the Korean Peninsula? During ‘sunshine’ and ‘moonshine’ policies of South Korean leaders and sporadic periods of intense engagement by outside countries (including Australia) Jane asks: How did we interpret the Hermit Kingdom? What did we get right and what did we get wrong, from our contact with the Kim regime, our intelligence or our historic analysis? Reviewing the narratives, nuclear ambitions and negotiations from the 1990s through to the Trump-Kim summits might assist in answering the question: What comes next?
Content Creator – Australian Institute of International Affairs
