Go inside the North Korean ski field where South Korea will join the North for Winter Olympics training. With photography by Jean H. Lee for Getty Images.
Read MoreNPR WBUR Here and Now: North Korean Olympic performers 'propaganda coup' →
Jean Lee (@newsjean) is a journalist and Global Fellow at the Wilson Center. She speaks with Here & Now's Robin Young about the Olympic detente that North and South Korea are negotiating, which is leading to a unified march during the PyeongChang Olympics opening ceremony next month, and a delegation of North Korean musicians and cheerleaders attending the games.
Read MoreBBC World Service: The World This Week →
The two Koreas met for the first time in years - to talk Olympics and more. It's just a first step - expect the North to want more, soon.
Read MoreABC The World: North Korea to send athletes to Olympics in South after high-level talks →
With North Korea heading to the Pyeongchang #Olympics, @newsjean tells @yveyong there's a sense of relief and excitement on the Korean Peninsula #ABCTheWorld
Read MoreNPR, All Things Considered: North Koreans' Attitudes Of The U.S. →
The relationship between President Trump and Kim Jong Un made headlines again this past week. NPR's Michel Martin talks with North Korea expert Jean H. Lee, of the Wilson Center about how people on the Korean peninsula view the U.S.
Read MoreGlobal News: Buy North Korean: the country’s push for more domestic goods on store shelves →
Beer and other goods have been part of a deliberate push by the government, say experts, to increase the number of consumer goods on North Korean store shelves, and to decrease their reliance on Chinese products.
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NBC News: How Kim Jong Un bested Donald Trump in the slugfest that was 2017 →
One of 2017's defining geopolitical slugfests was between heavyweight personalities President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
It was an international standoff that descended into personal name-calling, with Trump labeling Kim "little rocket man" and the U.S. president being described as an "old lunatic" and a "dotard" in return.
If the past year were one round in a boxing match, most analysts say there's only one winner.
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MPR: Brinkmanship: The U.S. and North Korea →
Leading experts on North Korea discuss the challenges surrounding North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities. What does North Korea want, and what leverage does the U.S. have? How close to nuclear war are we?
Read MoreBBC Newshour: Inside North Korea's Soap Operas →
It's hard to know what exactly is going on in North Korea, but it is possible to get glimpses. Seasoned North Korea observer Jean Lee has looked at the evolution of television soap operas in the era of Kim Jong-Un. What gave her the idea?
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Washington Post: What you can learn from watching North Korean soap operas →
North Korean state media is often known for its bombast and fiery rhetoric. But spend some time watching North Korea’s televised dramas and soap operas, and you may be surprised to see that the country acknowledges some of its weaknesses, too.
Read MoreKorean Kontext: What Can North Korean Soap Operas Tell Us About Kim Jong-un’s Priorities? →
A group of women gossiping about the new neighbor. A feisty middle schooler using a homemade drone to prank his classmates. A young military officer seeking information from his past. These themes could be from any American TV show. But they are, in fact, storylines from a new wave of soap operas produced by the North Korean state.
Former AP journalist Jean Lee, now a Global Fellow at The Wilson Center, analyzed four of these North Korean soaps for a new research paper commissioned by KEI. In this episode of Korean Kontext, she discusses some of her observations, including a shift from emphasizing military service to emphasizing family ties and a focus on youth and the next generation of North Koreans - themes which may indicate some of Kim Jong-un's main domestic priorities
Read MoreGlobal News: How North Korea is using TV sitcoms as state propaganda →
This is the new face of propaganda in North Korea, says Jean Lee, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. It’s softer and more subtle than the nightly news broadcasts, and more entertaining too, she said. “[North Koreans] are much more inclined to pay attention because they’re enjoying it.”
Read MoreKEI: Press Release | Soap Operas and Socialism: Dissecting Kim Jong-un’s Evolving Policy Priorities through TV Dramas in North Korea →
The Korea Economic Institute of America published today a new analysis by Jean Lee, a journalist and veteran North Korea watcher who opened the AP’s Pyongyang bureau, focused on how North Korean soap operas can shed light on Kim Jong Un’s policy priorities. For her study, Lee analyzed four North Korean TV dramas that aired from 2013 to 2016. She used the dramas to tease out details of what these dramas can tell us about North Korean thinking, and what the regime wants the general populace to focus on in their daily lives. Things like clothing choices, apartment decorations, and career choices that are seen in the dramas shed light on how Kim Jong Un sets domestic priorities in North Korea.
Read MoreCNBC: How Kim Jong Un is using TV dramas to change North Korea →
In new research, Jean H. Lee described how Kim Jong Un's administration is creating made-for-TV dramas concentrated on youth and technology to appeal to the next generation of North Koreans.
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Zocalo: Our Caricatured Views of North Korea Are Dangerous →
Jean H. Lee is a journalist and former Pyongyang Bureau Chief for the Associated Press. Both her parents were born in South Korea and immigrated as students to the United States in the 1960s. Before moderating a Zócalo/UCLA panel discussion titled “Is War With North Korea Inevitable?” at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles, she spoke in the green room about supermarket shopping in Pyongyang and whether North Koreans have horns.
Read More'Wild card' Trump heads into North Korea's line of sight →
In the South Korean capital Seoul, Trump will find people who have lived with that reality for decades.
"It's crucial for Trump to show that he's willing to defend and protect South Korea because there's a lot of questions and concerns on the part of South Koreans about his commitment to that alliance, and that has fed fears here in South Korea that they may be abandoned," said Jean Lee, a global fellow at the Wilson Center and former Pyongyang bureau chief for The Associated Press.
Read MoreWilson Center: Trump’s Asia Visit and North Korea Fever →
All eyes will be on President Trump as he heads to Asia next week, with seething tensions over North Korea topping his diplomatic agenda. Global Fellow Jean H. Lee says that while Pyongyang’s neighbors are accustomed to anxiety about the nuclear threat, the temperature – and the stakes – are only continuing to rise: “It’s not the first time that we’ve had this fever. That said, we need this fever to subside.” Differences between the U.S. president and his South Korean counterpart, the Kim regime’s strategy, and China’s current calculations are also discussed in the latest edition of Wilson Center NOW.
Read MoreNew York Times: Kim Jong-un Called Trump a ‘Dotard.’ What Does That Even Mean? →
Jean H. Lee, a former Pyongyang bureau chief for The Associated Press, said on Twitter that she had visited the offices of KCNA, the North Korean state news service, and found the agency using very old Korean-English dictionaries for their translations.
Read MoreWNYC The Brian Lehrer Show: North Korea Continues to Test Bombs →
After North Korea's latest nuclear test over the weekend, the largest yet, Jean Lee, global fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and former Associated Press Pyongyang Bureau Chief, talks about President Trump's bellicose response, how that affects the U.S. relationship to longtime ally South Korea, and what else to expect from the North. However, Trump's response and the Trump administration response are different. "The mixed messages are going to help North Korea," explains Lee, who is stationed in Seoul, South Korea currently. And she says that "as a proud American," she is worried, "that [Trump] will lead us into a military conflict that will destroy this region."
Read MoreJohn Batchelor Show: Where in the world is Kim Han Sol? →
Where in the world is Kim Han Sol? Jean Lee @newsjean Wilson Center speaks to @gordongchang on the John Batchelor Show about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother that has sent the slain man's son into hiding.
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The FT’s review of The Lazarus Heist, the Peabody-nominated BBC World Service podcast.