Balazs Szalontai: North Korea’s calculated diplomacy in the Middle East

This week, Balazs Szalontai returns to the podcast to explore the overlooked history of North Korea’s relationship with countries across the Middle East and North Africa. The expert discusses how Pyongyang navigated ideological contradictions, opportunistic diplomacy and shifting global alliances throughout the Cold War, touching on the DPRK’s ties with Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq and more. He also explains how North Korea often prioritized strategic survival and a symbolic presence in the region over ideological consistency.  Dr. Balazs Szalontai is a historian and professor at Korea University in the Division of Public Sociology and Korean Unification. He previously appeared on episode 106 of the podcast. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists. NK News subscribers can listen to this and other exclusive episodes from their preferred podcast player by accessing the private podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide at nknews.org/private-feed.