There's reason for caution when it comes to expectations about North Korea, warns Jean Lee, director of the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Kim's understanding of "denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula — a key U.S. goal — may be very different from what President Trump expects, says Lee.
Read MoreAward-Winning Reporter Jean Lee to Lead Wilson Center’s Korea Studies →
WASHINGTON – Jean H. Lee will serve as the new Director of the Wilson Center’s Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy, drawing upon her unique experiences as a Pulitzer-Prize-nominated journalist and expert on South and North Korea.
Read MoreThe Diplomat: What Does a Trump-Kim Meeting Mean for China? →
“Kim Jong-un is making it clear that he is no one’s ‘little brother’ — certainly not China’s. He wants to sit at the table with the United States.”Read More
Washington Post: A North Korean propaganda film foretold proposed talks between Trump and Kim Jong Un →
The news that President Trump had accepted an offer to meet Kim Jong Un to talk about North Korean denuclearization took many people by surprise.
Thursday's announcement had come after nearly a year of rapidly increasing tension between the United States and North Korea, as Pyongyang made considerable leaps in its nuclear weapons program despite the Trump administration's “maximum pressure” strategy.
But this scenario may have been foretold. As Jeffrey Lewis, an expert on North Korea's nuclear program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey has noted, there was a preview of a similar line of events — in a North Korean propaganda film aired years ago.
Read MoreVICE News Tonight: Binge watching North Korean TV is surreal — and educational →
To understand more about what North Koreans are watching and what the government wants them to think, we arranged a screening with Jean Lee, who became an expert in North Korean television when she worked as a journalist in Pyongyang.
Read MoreVICE News Tonight (HBO): North Korean soap operas →
In order to learn more about Kim’s policy priorities and everyday life in the secretive kingdom, VICE News binges North Korean soaps with the Wilson Center’s Jean Lee.
Read MoreCNBC: North Korea is at the Olympics — but North Koreans probably won't get to see much of it
"The North Koreans won't have the same kind of access to the Olympics as we do. But if their athletes do well, they will certainly be celebrating it."
Read MoreVice News Tonight|HBO on Instagram →
NPR's All Things Considered: The Political Gamesmanship Behind The 2018 Winter Olympics →
Michel Martin asks North Korea expert Jean Lee, former Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, and former COO for the U.S. Olympic Committee Lt. Gen. Wallace Gregson about behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
Read MoreFox News: North Korea pushing 'vanity projects' as Olympics near →
“As a young man in his mid-30s, Kim Jong Un must woo the next generation if he’s to rule for decades to come,” Lee told Fox News. “Sports and technology — two things all young people love — are part of that equation.”Read More
AP: Chloe Kim: California kid heads to South Korea's games →
"Snowboarding just doesn't have the same exposure there, and she doesn't have the same accomplishments yet as someone like Yuna Kim," says Jean Lee, a global fellow at the Wilson Center, who previously served as Associated Press bureau chief in Pyongyang, North Korea. "But she has the potential. If she goes home with a medal, and I think she probably will, she'll become a huge star in South Korea."
Read MoreSCMP: Lessons for today of USS Pueblo’s 1968 capture by North Korea →
Political experts say there is much to be learned from the warship crisis 50 years ago that brought the Korean peninsula to the brink of a second war.
Read MoreNew York Times: A Few Questions for Our 52 Places Traveler →
I was just on a snowboarding trip with Jean and downloaded her brain for two hours (look out for that in a future article). - Jada Yuan, the New York Times' world travelerRead More
Business Insider: Go inside the North Korean ski field where South Korea will join the North for Winter Olympics training →
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.
Read MoreNBC 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.
Read More
The FT’s review of The Lazarus Heist, the Peabody-nominated BBC World Service podcast.