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Andrei Lankov, Associate Professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, writes, “It is difficult to believe that any effort to reverse the tremendous social changes of the past fifteen years will be completely successful. Still, the period of largely unhindered de-Stalinization from below is over. North Korean authorities are working hard to re-Stalinize the country and to revive the old patterns of a centrally planned and heavily controlled state socialism.”

Scott Snyder, Director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at The Asia Foundation and a Senior Associate at Pacific Forum CSIS, writes, “Obama administration must go beyond a focus on disciplining North Korea’s leaders and offer a positive vision for the future of the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia that would clarify US expectations and intentions toward the region.”

Xu Hui, a reporter with the Public Welfare Times, describe the changing relationship between foundations, government oriented NGOs, and grassroots NGO in China. He describes the existing relationship between these groups, its benefits and challenges, and the potential value of alternative models.

Leonid Petrov, Research Associate at the Australian National University, writes, “the era of relaxation and experimentation, which prompted the beginning of inter-Korean cooperation, is well and truly over. North Korea is headed for a major retreat, back to military communism. Only those elements of market economy which are necessary to keep the country afloat are being preserved.”