Author of Becoming Kim Jong Un. Former CIA. Former State Dept. Former Brookings Inst Sr Fellow. Personal account.
Joined July 2015
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Pinned Tweet
7 Apr 2021
The paperback is out! So grateful to the team @randomhouse for the ongoing support and enthusiasm for this project.
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
May 22
📢 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-csis-cs…
🎤 Speakers: @VictorDCha · @LuisSimn · @maxbergmann @csiserep · @KristiGovella · @EPejsova @VUBrussel · @MichitoTsuruoka @Keio_KCS · Nicholas Szechenyi @JapanChair
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
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
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
📢 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/strategic-va…
🎙️ Featured speakers include:
@VictorDCha · @sydseiler · @RushDoshi · @MarkCancian · @AndrewIYeo · @patricia_m_kim · @snydersas · @junghpak1 · @augama · @bostonsunny · @sungminchohi · @Henrietta_Ivy · Joseph Yun · Mark Lambert
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
“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-kor…
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
📢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/strategic-va…
CC @Henrietta_Ivy @junghpak1
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
Apr 28
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-udW4…
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
Apr 22
❗️New Analysis❗️
"How North Korea Won: The Strange Triumph of Kim Jong Un", by Jung H. Pak in Foreign Affairs.
Read
foreignaffairs.com/north-kor… @junghpak1
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
Apr 21
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.
Apr 21
“In the past, Washington has been able to work with Beijing and Moscow, albeit to a limited extent, to restrain Pyongyang and prevent a military confrontation,” writes @junghpak1. “But today, the North Korea challenge is both more formidable and more durable.” fam.ag/4vWVDZU
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
Apr 21
A superb follow-on article to update a masterful book. A must read.
Apr 21
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.
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
Apr 21
@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.
Apr 21
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.
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Apr 21
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.
Apr 21
“In the past, Washington has been able to work with Beijing and Moscow, albeit to a limited extent, to restrain Pyongyang and prevent a military confrontation,” writes @junghpak1. “But today, the North Korea challenge is both more formidable and more durable.” fam.ag/4vWVDZU
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
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
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
Apr 17
"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/2026/04/17…
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Apr 10
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…
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Apr 10
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
Apr 10
In 2021, 3% of Russians said they viewed North Korea as a friendly country, according to polling by the independent Levada Center. By 2025, almost a third of respondents listed North Korea as among Russia’s closest allies.
My report from Moscow.
nytimes.com/2026/04/10/world…
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
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
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
Apr 8
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…
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Jung H. Pak, PhD retweeted
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
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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.
South Korea's spy agency now believes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's teenage daughter has been positioned as his successor, lawmakers said, citing a recent public display of her driving a tank that was likely intended to dispel any doubts reut.rs/41Tz4Hq
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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.
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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.
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