My interview with Sohn Kwang joo, former editor-in-chief of Daily NK: Part 1, Part 2
NK News recently spoke to veteran South Korean official Sohn Kwang joo to learn about out his views on the issues currently shaping inter-Korean relations.
In a wide-ranging interview, Sohn told NK News about how the Kaesong Industrial Complex provides useful currency for the North, but is also presents a risk of market economy permeation. He also discussed how President Park Geun-hye’s China diplomacy may affect efforts to negotiate the North’s denuclearization, and stresses that South Korea must be clear in its determination to unite the peninsula under its banner.
Sohn Kwang joo is an 11-year veteran of the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, who also served as editor-in-chief of the Daily NK and a consultant for the foreign and unification policies on the transition team of former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. He is now a researcher at the Gyeonggi Research Institute Unification Northern East Asia Center, the director of the Daily NK Unification Strategy Institute, and the director of the North Korea Democratization Network.
Sohn also spent another 11 years as assistant researcher for Hwang Jang-yop, the former secretary of international affairs for the Korean Workers’ Party in North Korea and the mastermind behind the Juche (self-reliance) doctrine. Sohn is the author of ‘The Kim Jong Il Report’ and co-author of ‘Exit Emperor Kim Jong Il’.
(visit NK News to continue)