Listen Live
Donate
 on air
    Schedule

    KCRW

    Read & Explore

    • News
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Culture
    • Events

    Listen

    • Live Radio
    • Music
    • Podcasts
    • Full Schedule

    Information

    • About
    • Careers
    • Help / FAQ
    • Newsletters
    • Contact

    Support

    • Become a Member
    • Become a VIP
    • Ways to Give
    • Shop
    • Member Perks

    Become a Member

    Donate to KCRW to support this cultural hub for music discovery, in-depth journalism, community storytelling, and free events. You'll become a KCRW Member and get a year of exclusive benefits.

    DonateGive Monthly

    Copyright 2026 KCRW. All rights reserved.

    Report a Bug|Privacy Policy|Terms of Service|
    Cookie Policy
    |FCC Public Files|

    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    A Glimpse at North Korea: The Hermit Kingdom

    North Korea is the world's most militarized nation and one of the poorest; the government does whatever it can to prevent information from seeping across the borders. In the 1990's, famine killed between one and two million people, and the economy continues to struggle under US and UN sanctions due to the country's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

    • rss
    • Share
    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    North Korea is the world's most militarized nation and one of the poorest; the government does whatever it can to prevent information from seeping across the borders. In the 1990's, famine killed between one and two million people, and the economy continues to struggle under US and UN sanctions due to the country's pursuit of nuclear weapons. So there's a bit of a change. A tiny crack has been opened to tourists in the hope that investors might see opportunity, but it's tourism of a very limited kind. We hear about the first visit, how defectors describe what life is really like and what the current prospects might be for reunification with South Korea.

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    A Peek Inside the Closed Borders of North Korea
    1. 0:00Myanmar's Suu Kyi Rejoins Political Arena
    2. 7:49A Glimpse at North Korea: The Hermit KingdomYou’re reading this
    3. 41:56Political Food Fight: Pizza as a Vegetable in School Lunches
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Christian Bordal

      Managing Producer, Greater LA

    • KCRW placeholder

      Katie Cooper

      Producer, 'One year Later'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Frances Anderton

      architecture critic and author

    • KCRW placeholder

      Keith Richburg

      Harvard's Kennedy School of Government

    • KCRW placeholder

      Barbara Demick

      Author, "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea"

    • KCRW placeholder

      Victor Cha

      professor at Georgetown University, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department, and Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    A Peek Inside the Closed Borders of North Korea
    1. 0:00Myanmar's Suu Kyi Rejoins Political Arena
    2. 7:49A Glimpse at North Korea: The Hermit KingdomYou’re reading this
    3. 41:56Political Food Fight: Pizza as a Vegetable in School Lunches
    Back to To the Point