Jung H. Pak, PhD

The paperback is out! So grateful to the team @randomhouse for the ongoing support and enthusiasm for this project.

📢 IN 4 DAYS | CSIS-CSDS Transatlantic Dialogue on the Indo-Pacific How are U.S. allies navigating simultaneous crises in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific—and what does this mean for global coordination? Join @CSIS & @CSDS_Brussels for the 6th annual dialogue featuring leading experts from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. 📅 Tuesday, May 26, 2026 🕑 2:00–3:00 PM ET 📍 In-person at CSIS HQ | Webcast 🔗 RSVP: csis.org/events/2026-cs… 🎤 Speakers: @VictorDCha · @LuisSimn · @maxbergmann @csiserep · @KristiGovella · @EPejsova @VUBrussel · @MichitoTsuruoka @Keio_KCS · Nicholas Szechenyi @JapanChair

Tomorrow marks one year since we launched our first online exhibition, "Open Source: Ukraine and the Intelligence Revolution." View the exhibit: osint.spymuseum.org Since then, thousands have explored how publicly available data, from social media posts to flight logs, are transforming modern intelligence collection. As the conflict in Ukraine continues to shape global security, this digital exhibition remains a powerful window into the role open source information plays in uncovering truth and shaping battlefields in real time. #OSINT #OnlineExhibit #SpyMuseum

@thomaswright08 @LowyInstitute Excellent piece, Tom.

Some highlights from my @LowyInstitute speech “The World After the Unraveling”, the text of which is now published. The international order has been under strain for a long time but it endured throughout. It finally snapped because of the revolutionary policies of three leaders that broke the restraints underpinning the order— Xi on trade, Putin on territorial expansion and Trump 47 on alliances. The order has unraveled and it won’t be rebuilt or replaced for some time. We’re still in the unraveling. Those conditions are consistent with a pre war world— a shift in the balance of power, a break down in the old order, doubts about alliance commitments, a revolutionary technology, arms races, and volatile leaders who worry about a closing window of opportunity due to age. That’s not to say a general war is inevitable but if it did occur future historians would not feel that it came out of the blue. Our job is to manage this situation, ride out the storm, and put the building blocks in place for something better. There are critical choices ahead. lowyinstitute.org/publications/w…

📢 EVENT | The Strategic Value of China to Korea Join us at @CSIS for an in‑person conference featuring leading scholars and former policymakers examining: • China’s strategic value to South Korea • Korea’s role in a potential Taiwan contingency • China’s record on North Korea 📅 May 13, 2026 ⏰ 9:00 AM–1:30 PM ET (lunch provided) 🔗 RSVP: csis.org/events/strateg… 🎙️ Featured speakers include: @VictorDCha · @sydseiler · @RushDoshi · @MarkCancian · @AndrewIYeo · @patricia_m_kim · @snydersas · @junghpak1 · @augama · @bostonsunny · @sungminchohi · @Henrietta_Ivy · Joseph Yun · Mark Lambert

“With its improved military, its recovering economy, and its various new relationships at the regional and subnational levels, North Korea has more strategic and tactical flexibility than ever before,” writes @junghpak1. foreignaffairs.com/north-korea/ho…

📢EVENT I The Strategic Value of China to Korea Join us @CSIS for a half-day, in-person conference featuring leading scholars and former policymakers examining: • China’s strategic value to South Korea • Korea’s role in a potential Taiwan contingency • China’s track record on North Korea 📅 May 13, 2026 ⏰ 9:00 AM–1:30 PM EDT (lunch provided) 📍 CSIS Headquarters, Washington, DC 🔗 RSVP: csis.org/events/strateg… CC @Henrietta_Ivy @junghpak1

Enjoyed having @junghpak1 @JChengWSJ at @BrookingsFP this morning to discuss, power, religion, and ideology in North Korea as well as U.S.-North Korea relations and what might come out of a Trump-Kim meeting. ICYMI, link is here! youtube.com/watch?v=miO-ud…

❗️New Analysis❗️ "How North Korea Won: The Strange Triumph of Kim Jong Un", by Jung H. Pak in Foreign Affairs. Read foreignaffairs.com/north-korea/ho… @junghpak1

An excellent piece by @junghpak1. “Washington must reckon with the new geostrategic landscape because however Kim chooses to advance his goals—through diplomatic or military means or a combination of both—what happens on the Korean Peninsula won’t stay on the Korean Peninsula.” 2026 is not 2018 or 2019—it is time to take the North Korea, Russia, and China threat seriously.

A superb follow-on article to update a masterful book. A must read.

@junghpak1's excellent article argues that Kim Jong Un has dispensed with reform and leveraged great-power rivalry to expand his strategic autonomy. The price of renewed US engagement will be costly, and even Putin has to guard against entrapment by his newfound ally in Pyongyang.

My book Becoming Kim Jong Un (@penguinrandom 2020) ended the story in 2019. I wrote this essay for @ForeignAffairs to cover 2020-2025 to show how Kim mastered Covid, China, and geopolitics.

Mark your calendar! On Monday, April 27, from 10:00 am - 11:00 am, watch @JChengWSJ, @junghpak1, and @AndrewIYeo delve into the authoritarianism, dynastic leadership, and state ideology of North Korea: brook.gs/4c1Lemg

"Some of the cables describe anti-U.S. sentiment that is having an immediate impact, while others raise concerns that relationships could be in danger if the war continues much longer" Great @nahaltoosi scoop politico.com/news/2026/04/1…

Excited to get my copy of @JChengWSJ ‘s book today and looking forward to our conversation @BrookingsInst on April 27 . brookings.edu/events/power-r…

Russia and North Korea cultivating generational ties, as intended by Putin and Kim. This relationship isn’t going away anytime soon. Great color and reporting from @VALERIEinNYT

To understand the state ideology holding sway over North Korea, register for our event on the three-generation Kim dynasty and its grip on power, featuring @AndrewIYeo, @junghpak1, and @JChengWSJ, on Monday, April 27, 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.: brook.gs/4c1Lemg

This will be enlightening & awesome!!🎆Pyongyang, once the "Jerusalem of the East" experienced a ✝️Christian revival in 1907. No coincidence that the Kim cult regime adopted religious overtones. @JChengWSJ @junghpak1 @BrookingsFP @penguinrandom Register👇brookings.edu/events/power-r…

North Korea is one of the most opaque and tightly controlled political systems in the world. On Monday, April 27, from 10:00 am - 11:00 am, watch @JChengWSJ, @junghpak1, and @AndrewIYeo unpack the Kim dynasty’s evolving ideology across three generations. brook.gs/4c1Lemg

She accompanied her father to the Russian embassy in Pyongyang. And last fall she went to China for the 80th anniv celebration of the end of WW2. If she is chosen as successor, she'll have the receipts to show her mettle and right to rule, thanks to her forward-thinking father.

He does not want that for the next successor. She's at the missile launches, military parades, on-site guidance tours of defense factories. She's also at economic sites - celebrating completion of construction projects, inspecting ag facilities.

KJU's lesson from his own extremely truncated succession was that he didn't have a history in the way that his guerrilla hero grandfather and country founder Kim Il Sung had. His father Kim Jong Il also lacked the gravitas and a history of martial prowess.