What the CIA knows (and doesn’t know) about North Korea – Ep. 255

North Korea is one of the hardest targets for U.S. intelligence, and the country’s border closure since 2020 has only increased the difficulty. State propaganda remains one of the only ways to learn about the regime and what’s happening in the country. A former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, Soo Kim has been working to understand the Kim Jong Un regime for over a decade. This week, she joins the NK News Podcast about her time at the CIA and what the U.S. government knows — and doesn’t know — about North Korea. She talks about hierarchies in Pyongyang, what Kim Jong Un prioritizes, what the next decade may look like on the Korean Peninsula and more. Soo Kim (@mllesookim) is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation focused on national security and policy issues in the Indo-Pacific. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) 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.