The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary North Korea presents a comprehensive picture of contemporary North Korea, placed in historical context and set against the overlapping fields of politics, economy, culture, society and foreign relations. Spanning a period of significant transition for North Korea, this volume provides accurate analysis and applications of both historical and institutional perspectives.

The volume’s chapters are representative of the growth in North Korean studies that has occurred since the 1990s, in parallel with the growing maturity of the field in South Korea, as well as with far greater levels of access to North Korean sources. The volume is divided into five Parts, each reflecting an emergent area of debate and research:

• The political perspective
• The North Korean economy
• Foreign relations
• Society
• Culture

This is the first anthology of North Korean studies to demonstrate a clear understanding of North Korea as North Korea, as opposed to a dimly perceived and threatening rogue state. It features both Korean and non-Korean contributors, many working from primary source material. As such, this handbook will prove a valuable resource to students and scholars of Northeast Asian studies, modern Korean history and politics, and comparative politics more broadly.

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary North Korea presents a comprehensive picture of contemporary North Korea, placed in historical context, spanning a period of significant transition and set against the overlapping fields of politics, economy, culture, society and foreign relations.

Part 1: The political perspective 2. The evolution of the North Korean Socio-Political System, 1945-1994 Balazs Szalontai 3. Masters of survival: North Korean leadership in a hostile world Andrei Lankov 4. Political economy and ideology under Kim Jong-un Ruediger Frank Part 2: The North Korean economy 5. The structural transformation of the North Korean economic planning system Peter Ward 6. Between the markets and the state: North Korea’s fragile agriculture and food supply Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein 7. North Korea’s interaction with the global economy Justin Hastings Part 3: Foreign relations 8. ‘The enemies made this possible’: Sino-North Korean relations after 1948 Adam Cathcart and Yujin Lim 9. Nuclear weapons and North Korean foreign policy Shane Smith 10. North Korea's nuclear diplomacy Leszek Buszynski 11. Revival of an old friendship: Contemporary North Korea-Russia Relations Anthony V. Rinna 12. Once more with feeling the US-DPRK dialogue 1993-2020 Adrian Buzo Part 4: Society 13. Human rights and North Korea Sandra Fahy 14. The ‘market value’ of people in North Korea Kim Seokhyang 15. Child mass mobilization in North Korea Kim Miju 16. The North Korean diaspora Sheena Chestnut Greitens Part 5: Culture 17. The evolution of cultural policy and practice in North Korea, seen through the journal Chos?n ?mak (Korean music) Keith Howard 18. Love of the lover, love of the Leader: youth romance in North Korean fiction Alek Sigley 19. Mass culture in the Kim Jong Un era: continuities and changes Tatiana Gabroussenko