What If?
An NK News series featuring scenarios about North Korea’s future. Articles in this series draw on verified facts and rigorous analysis to explore hypothetical events in the years and decades ahead.
What if North Korea stops publishing state media for international audiences?
Paranoia about leaks could compel regime to curtail access, cutting off key source of information about DPRK
What if the UN shuts down the Panel of Experts overseeing North Korea sanctions?
China’s skepticism of sanctions could lead it to end support, eliminating a key source of information on DPRK activities
What if North Korea’s vessels become significantly harder to track?
China’s data privacy laws and friction with the West may soon make ship tracking information hard to come by in Asia
What if the US recognized North Korea as a nuclear power?
The move would open a door for better US-DPRK relations but set a damning precedent for global nonproliferation