Andrei Lankov
Biographic Data
| ID | 284495 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Andrei Lankov |
| GIVEN NAMES | Andrei |
| FAMILY NAME | Lankov |
| SIGNATURE | LANKOV A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Kookmin University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0876-880X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 69 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
From Coercive Distribution to Material Co-optation
In this article, we discuss how the North Korean government has dealt with the emergence of a private labor market within the country. We utilize theories from the comparative study of political control in authoritarian regimes, and examine a novel mechanism of material co-optation by which North Korean workers purchase the right to exit the state sector and work in the private sector. This form of material co-optation has developed since the 199…
One Grand Disillusion
Common-Pool Resource Depletion and Dictatorship
This article seeks to explain the dynamics of resource depletion in North Korea’s fishery. We utilize insights from the common-pool resource (CPR) literature and show how theories from comparative politics that explain why states sometimes do not formalize property rights but prefer their informal exercise can be fruitfully applied to North Korea’s fishery. Utilizing a process tracing methodology, we demonstrate that the North Korean state posses…
Embedded and Autonomous Markets in North Korea's Fishing Industry
North Korea today is a most unusual post-socialist state. Market actors and market prices are integral to economic life, but private property remains illegal, and private enterprise outside the household is de jure non-existent. In such an institutional context, some market processes are more autonomous in relation to the state, while others are more embedded within state structures. In this article, we offer a theoretical account of the shape th…
The Perspective from Pyongyang
The denuclearisation of North Korea is unlikely. Neither pressure nor rewards will persuade North Korean decision-makers to surrender their nuclear weapons because they have good reasons to see denuclearisation as tantamount to collective suicide. Therefore, the only realistic goal of the United States and the international community is arms control. There are ways to reward North Korean leaders for their willingness to restrict their nuclear and…
North Korean Labor Export to the USSR/Russia
Victimhood Olympics
In January 2020, the Russian-language bimonthly “Russia in Global Affairs” published an article on “memory politics” and related conflicts, following a roundtable hosted by the magazine (Rossiya, 2020). To our amazement, the discussion caused a very keen reaction, especially in Europe. Our modest publication was immediately dubbed as nearly a forge of Kremlin ideas regarding “memory wars,” which, of course, is flattering, but, alas, is not true. …
Trouble Brewing
This article, based on newly available materials from the former Soviet archives, deals with the famine that struck a large part of the North Korean countryside in the winter of 1954–1955. The famine was related to the policies of crash industrialization and collectivization favored by Kim Il-sung—or at least, this is how many contemporaries, including Soviet diplomats, saw it. The famine, mentioned only once in openly available publications of t…
A peculiar case of a runaway ambassador
The defection of Yi Sang-cho, the North Korean ambassador to Moscow, in 1956 was an event without precedent in the history of the communist bloc. This article deals with the background to the event, drawing on newly available archival documents and other sources. The study indicates that Ambassador Yi, deeply involved with intra-party opposition in North Korea, played a major role in the Mikoyan-Peng delegation’s trip to Pyongyang and subsequent …
Making Money in the State
In the 1990s, a part of the North Korean economy underwent a process of marketization and de facto privatization. While largely spontaneous, this process was eerily reminiscent of developments in other post-Communist countries in Eastern Europe. One of the results was the emergence of a new entrepreneurial class, a nascent bourgeoisie. In order to overcome the obstacles that arose from the lack of any legal framework for their activities, they of…
Making Money in the State
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
North Korea’s new capitalists and their workers
Over the last two decades, North Korea has gone through a remarkable, though incomplete, transformation. Markets have proliferated and have largely supplanted the moribund state economy. This article discusses labor relations in North Korea’s nascent private sector. It is based on interviews with a number of North Korean entrepreneurs who now reside in the South
Useless Men, Entrepreneurial Women, and North Korea's Post-Socialism
Over the last 20 years, North Korea has undergone a dramatic social and economic transformation. While the old facade of Juche-style state socialism is maintained, actual economic life is determined by a multitude of private enterprises. The present article, based largely on interviews with North Koreans, traces the impact these social changes have had on family life. In many respects, the North Korean society is reminiscent of the post-socialist…
A New Face of North Korean Drug Use
IntroductionIt is widely accepted that ups and downs in the abuse of narcotics often follow cycles which are similar to those observed with infectious diseases: a sudden upsurge in the popularity of some addictive substance is followed by the decline. These periods of sudden upsurges in use are frequently described as epidemics.Admittedly, some scholars express their doubts as to whether the term is applicable to the rising levels of abuse,1 but …
Surviving the Hard Times
The Organizational Life
The “organizational life” is an important part of the daily existence of North Koreans. Every adult in North Korea has to be a participant in a multitude of rituals that serve a dual purpose of surveillance and indoctrination. In this article, we describe how the organizational life is arranged and also explain the ways it contributes to maintaining the domestic stability of North Korea and to manufacturing consent for the current regime. The stu…
The Decline of the North Korean Surveillance State
IntroductionIt is often assumed that in a totalitarian state, the decisive role should be the domain of the political police. In North Korea daily is often conducted through institutions which occasionally interact with the police, but are generally independent of it-like a neighborhood or inminpan (literally people's group, henceforth PG), whose role and activities constitute the topic of the present article. This work was supported by the Natio…
North Korean Market Vendors
A communist utopia, the professed goal of all Leninist regimes, is incompatible with a monetary economy or commercial activities of any kind. Hence, the gradual displacement of commerce is seen as an important part of the transition to full-fl edged communism. However, no communist state has ever been able to eradicate private economic activities completely and despite their persistent efforts, all Leninist regimes have had to tolerate the existe…
China's Korean Autonomous Prefecture and China-Korea Border Politics
By Chinese standards, the city of Yanji is rather small, with a population of nearly 400,000. About a third of them are ethnic Koreans: Yanji is the capital of Yanbian autonomous prefecture in the northeastern province of Jilin, the ethnic home of the large Korean minority in the area. The prefecture is close to the borders of North Korea and Russia
Bitter Taste of Paradise
This article deals with the problems of North Korean defectors currently living in South Korea. In the past, most such defectors came from privileged groups in the North Korean population, and their adjustment to the new environment did not pose a significant problem. However, from the mid-1990s, defectors began to come from the far less privileged groups. They experience serious problems related to jobs, education, crime, and social adjustment. …
The Legacy of Long-Gone States
In Helsinki on 10 September 2006, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Since the summit took place when the two leaders were attending the ASEM forum, they did not have much time to talk, so they had to concentrate on the most important issues in bilateral relations
North Korean Refugees in Northeast China
The current crisis in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has resulted in an explosive increase in the illegal migration of North Koreans to Northeast China. The refugees' presence is seen as a nuisance by all sides involved, but their experience is increasingly influencing domestic policy in North Korea
Pyongyang
The article attempts to re-construct the motivation behind the current North Korean policies, especially in the domestic sphere. It is argued tht North Korean leaders have valid political reasons not to imitate the Chinese-style reform, and are likely to limit themselves to moderate changes which would not jeopardize political stability and the domination of the present-day elite. The most critical factor is the maintenance of control over the ac…
The Emergence of the Soviet Faction in the Democra Tic People's Republic of Korea, 1945-1955
A very important role in the formation of the North Korean state and its early development was played by numerous Soviet Koreans, Soviet citizens of Korean extraction. They were sent to North Korea by the Soviet authorities and occupied various leading positions during the period 1945-60. This article will consider the circumstances of their arrival in North Korea, their activities from 1945 to 1950, and the emergence of the so-called Soviet fact…
The Demise of Non-Communist Parties in North Korea (1945–1960)
This article, based on newly declassified material from the Russian archives, deals with the fate of non-Communist parties in North Korea in the 1950s. Like the “people's democracies” in Eastern Europe, North Korea had (and still technically has) a few non-Communist parties. The ruling Communist party included these parties within the framework of a “united front,” designed to project the facade of a multiparty state, to control domestic dissent,…
Bitter Taste of Paradise
This article deals with the problems of North Korean defectors currently living in South Korea. In the past, most such defectors came from privileged groups in the North Korean population, and their adjustment to the new environment did not pose a significant problem. However, from the mid-1990s, defectors began to come from the far less privileged groups. They experience serious problems related to jobs, education, crime, and social adjustment. …
North Korean Refugees in Northeast China
The current crisis in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has resulted in an explosive increase in the illegal migration of North Koreans to Northeast China. The refugees' presence is seen as a nuisance by all sides involved, but their experience is increasingly influencing domestic policy in North Korea
Making Money in the State
In the 1990s, a part of the North Korean economy underwent a process of marketization and de facto privatization. While largely spontaneous, this process was eerily reminiscent of developments in other post-Communist countries in Eastern Europe. One of the results was the emergence of a new entrepreneurial class, a nascent bourgeoisie. In order to overcome the obstacles that arose from the lack of any legal framework for their activities, they of…
North Korean Market Vendors
A communist utopia, the professed goal of all Leninist regimes, is incompatible with a monetary economy or commercial activities of any kind. Hence, the gradual displacement of commerce is seen as an important part of the transition to full-fl edged communism. However, no communist state has ever been able to eradicate private economic activities completely and despite their persistent efforts, all Leninist regimes have had to tolerate the existe…
Embedded and Autonomous Markets in North Korea's Fishing Industry
North Korea today is a most unusual post-socialist state. Market actors and market prices are integral to economic life, but private property remains illegal, and private enterprise outside the household is de jure non-existent. In such an institutional context, some market processes are more autonomous in relation to the state, while others are more embedded within state structures. In this article, we offer a theoretical account of the shape th…
The Organizational Life
The “organizational life” is an important part of the daily existence of North Koreans. Every adult in North Korea has to be a participant in a multitude of rituals that serve a dual purpose of surveillance and indoctrination. In this article, we describe how the organizational life is arranged and also explain the ways it contributes to maintaining the domestic stability of North Korea and to manufacturing consent for the current regime. The stu…
Common-Pool Resource Depletion and Dictatorship
This article seeks to explain the dynamics of resource depletion in North Korea’s fishery. We utilize insights from the common-pool resource (CPR) literature and show how theories from comparative politics that explain why states sometimes do not formalize property rights but prefer their informal exercise can be fruitfully applied to North Korea’s fishery. Utilizing a process tracing methodology, we demonstrate that the North Korean state posses…
North Korea’s new capitalists and their workers
Over the last two decades, North Korea has gone through a remarkable, though incomplete, transformation. Markets have proliferated and have largely supplanted the moribund state economy. This article discusses labor relations in North Korea’s nascent private sector. It is based on interviews with a number of North Korean entrepreneurs who now reside in the South
Useless Men, Entrepreneurial Women, and North Korea's Post-Socialism
Over the last 20 years, North Korea has undergone a dramatic social and economic transformation. While the old facade of Juche-style state socialism is maintained, actual economic life is determined by a multitude of private enterprises. The present article, based largely on interviews with North Koreans, traces the impact these social changes have had on family life. In many respects, the North Korean society is reminiscent of the post-socialist…
Pyongyang
The article attempts to re-construct the motivation behind the current North Korean policies, especially in the domestic sphere. It is argued tht North Korean leaders have valid political reasons not to imitate the Chinese-style reform, and are likely to limit themselves to moderate changes which would not jeopardize political stability and the domination of the present-day elite. The most critical factor is the maintenance of control over the ac…
The Perspective from Pyongyang
The denuclearisation of North Korea is unlikely. Neither pressure nor rewards will persuade North Korean decision-makers to surrender their nuclear weapons because they have good reasons to see denuclearisation as tantamount to collective suicide. Therefore, the only realistic goal of the United States and the international community is arms control. There are ways to reward North Korean leaders for their willingness to restrict their nuclear and…
North Korean Labor Export to the USSR/Russia
Trouble Brewing
This article, based on newly available materials from the former Soviet archives, deals with the famine that struck a large part of the North Korean countryside in the winter of 1954–1955. The famine was related to the policies of crash industrialization and collectivization favored by Kim Il-sung—or at least, this is how many contemporaries, including Soviet diplomats, saw it. The famine, mentioned only once in openly available publications of t…
The Demise of Non-Communist Parties in North Korea (1945–1960)
This article, based on newly declassified material from the Russian archives, deals with the fate of non-Communist parties in North Korea in the 1950s. Like the “people's democracies” in Eastern Europe, North Korea had (and still technically has) a few non-Communist parties. The ruling Communist party included these parties within the framework of a “united front,” designed to project the facade of a multiparty state, to control domestic dissent,…
The Demise of Non-Communist Parties in North Korea (1945–1960)
This article, based on newly declassified material from the Russian archives, deals with the fate of non-Communist parties in North Korea in the 1950s. Like the “people's democracies” in Eastern Europe, North Korea had (and still technically has) a few non-Communist parties. The ruling Communist party included these parties within the framework of a “united front,” designed to project the facade of a multiparty state, to control domestic dissent,…
The Emergence of the Soviet Faction in the Democra Tic People's Republic of Korea, 1945-1955
A very important role in the formation of the North Korean state and its early development was played by numerous Soviet Koreans, Soviet citizens of Korean extraction. They were sent to North Korea by the Soviet authorities and occupied various leading positions during the period 1945-60. This article will consider the circumstances of their arrival in North Korea, their activities from 1945 to 1950, and the emergence of the so-called Soviet fact…
Pyongyang
The article attempts to re-construct the motivation behind the current North Korean policies, especially in the domestic sphere. It is argued tht North Korean leaders have valid political reasons not to imitate the Chinese-style reform, and are likely to limit themselves to moderate changes which would not jeopardize political stability and the domination of the present-day elite. The most critical factor is the maintenance of control over the ac…
North Korean Refugees in Northeast China
The current crisis in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has resulted in an explosive increase in the illegal migration of North Koreans to Northeast China. The refugees' presence is seen as a nuisance by all sides involved, but their experience is increasingly influencing domestic policy in North Korea
Bitter Taste of Paradise
This article deals with the problems of North Korean defectors currently living in South Korea. In the past, most such defectors came from privileged groups in the North Korean population, and their adjustment to the new environment did not pose a significant problem. However, from the mid-1990s, defectors began to come from the far less privileged groups. They experience serious problems related to jobs, education, crime, and social adjustment. …
The Legacy of Long-Gone States
In Helsinki on 10 September 2006, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Since the summit took place when the two leaders were attending the ASEM forum, they did not have much time to talk, so they had to concentrate on the most important issues in bilateral relations
China's Korean Autonomous Prefecture and China-Korea Border Politics
By Chinese standards, the city of Yanji is rather small, with a population of nearly 400,000. About a third of them are ethnic Koreans: Yanji is the capital of Yanbian autonomous prefecture in the northeastern province of Jilin, the ethnic home of the large Korean minority in the area. The prefecture is close to the borders of North Korea and Russia
North Korean Market Vendors
A communist utopia, the professed goal of all Leninist regimes, is incompatible with a monetary economy or commercial activities of any kind. Hence, the gradual displacement of commerce is seen as an important part of the transition to full-fl edged communism. However, no communist state has ever been able to eradicate private economic activities completely and despite their persistent efforts, all Leninist regimes have had to tolerate the existe…
The Decline of the North Korean Surveillance State
IntroductionIt is often assumed that in a totalitarian state, the decisive role should be the domain of the political police. In North Korea daily is often conducted through institutions which occasionally interact with the police, but are generally independent of it-like a neighborhood or inminpan (literally people's group, henceforth PG), whose role and activities constitute the topic of the present article. This work was supported by the Natio…
The Organizational Life
The “organizational life” is an important part of the daily existence of North Koreans. Every adult in North Korea has to be a participant in a multitude of rituals that serve a dual purpose of surveillance and indoctrination. In this article, we describe how the organizational life is arranged and also explain the ways it contributes to maintaining the domestic stability of North Korea and to manufacturing consent for the current regime. The stu…
A New Face of North Korean Drug Use
IntroductionIt is widely accepted that ups and downs in the abuse of narcotics often follow cycles which are similar to those observed with infectious diseases: a sudden upsurge in the popularity of some addictive substance is followed by the decline. These periods of sudden upsurges in use are frequently described as epidemics.Admittedly, some scholars express their doubts as to whether the term is applicable to the rising levels of abuse,1 but …
Surviving the Hard Times
Useless Men, Entrepreneurial Women, and North Korea's Post-Socialism
Over the last 20 years, North Korea has undergone a dramatic social and economic transformation. While the old facade of Juche-style state socialism is maintained, actual economic life is determined by a multitude of private enterprises. The present article, based largely on interviews with North Koreans, traces the impact these social changes have had on family life. In many respects, the North Korean society is reminiscent of the post-socialist…
Making Money in the State
In the 1990s, a part of the North Korean economy underwent a process of marketization and de facto privatization. While largely spontaneous, this process was eerily reminiscent of developments in other post-Communist countries in Eastern Europe. One of the results was the emergence of a new entrepreneurial class, a nascent bourgeoisie. In order to overcome the obstacles that arose from the lack of any legal framework for their activities, they of…
Making Money in the State
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
North Korea’s new capitalists and their workers
Over the last two decades, North Korea has gone through a remarkable, though incomplete, transformation. Markets have proliferated and have largely supplanted the moribund state economy. This article discusses labor relations in North Korea’s nascent private sector. It is based on interviews with a number of North Korean entrepreneurs who now reside in the South
A peculiar case of a runaway ambassador
The defection of Yi Sang-cho, the North Korean ambassador to Moscow, in 1956 was an event without precedent in the history of the communist bloc. This article deals with the background to the event, drawing on newly available archival documents and other sources. The study indicates that Ambassador Yi, deeply involved with intra-party opposition in North Korea, played a major role in the Mikoyan-Peng delegation’s trip to Pyongyang and subsequent …
North Korean Labor Export to the USSR/Russia
Victimhood Olympics
In January 2020, the Russian-language bimonthly “Russia in Global Affairs” published an article on “memory politics” and related conflicts, following a roundtable hosted by the magazine (Rossiya, 2020). To our amazement, the discussion caused a very keen reaction, especially in Europe. Our modest publication was immediately dubbed as nearly a forge of Kremlin ideas regarding “memory wars,” which, of course, is flattering, but, alas, is not true. …
Trouble Brewing
This article, based on newly available materials from the former Soviet archives, deals with the famine that struck a large part of the North Korean countryside in the winter of 1954–1955. The famine was related to the policies of crash industrialization and collectivization favored by Kim Il-sung—or at least, this is how many contemporaries, including Soviet diplomats, saw it. The famine, mentioned only once in openly available publications of t…
Embedded and Autonomous Markets in North Korea's Fishing Industry
North Korea today is a most unusual post-socialist state. Market actors and market prices are integral to economic life, but private property remains illegal, and private enterprise outside the household is de jure non-existent. In such an institutional context, some market processes are more autonomous in relation to the state, while others are more embedded within state structures. In this article, we offer a theoretical account of the shape th…
The Perspective from Pyongyang
The denuclearisation of North Korea is unlikely. Neither pressure nor rewards will persuade North Korean decision-makers to surrender their nuclear weapons because they have good reasons to see denuclearisation as tantamount to collective suicide. Therefore, the only realistic goal of the United States and the international community is arms control. There are ways to reward North Korean leaders for their willingness to restrict their nuclear and…
One Grand Disillusion
Common-Pool Resource Depletion and Dictatorship
This article seeks to explain the dynamics of resource depletion in North Korea’s fishery. We utilize insights from the common-pool resource (CPR) literature and show how theories from comparative politics that explain why states sometimes do not formalize property rights but prefer their informal exercise can be fruitfully applied to North Korea’s fishery. Utilizing a process tracing methodology, we demonstrate that the North Korean state posses…
From Coercive Distribution to Material Co-optation
In this article, we discuss how the North Korean government has dealt with the emergence of a private labor market within the country. We utilize theories from the comparative study of political control in authoritarian regimes, and examine a novel mechanism of material co-optation by which North Korean workers purchase the right to exit the state sector and work in the private sector. This form of material co-optation has developed since the 199…
Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies (23 works) · Political science (22 works) · Economics (17 works) · Law (17 works) · Politics (14 works) · Law (12 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Political economy (10 works) · History (9 works) · State (computer science (9 works)