The North Korea International Documentation Project (NKIDP) is part of the

History and Public Policy Program The History and Public Policy Program (HAPP) is a program at the Woodrow Wilson Center. It focuses on the relationship between history and policy making and seeks to foster open, informed and non-partisan dialogue on historically relevant issues. ...

at the

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (or Wilson Center) is a quasi-government entity and think tank which conducts research to inform public policy. Located in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Wash ...

. It seeks to serve as an informational clearinghouse on

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

for both the scholarly and policy making communities by widely disseminating newly declassified documents on the DPRK from its former communist allies as well as other resources that provide valuable insight into the actions and nature of the North Korean state.

History and Details

The NKIDP has obtained and published documents on the

history of North Korea The history of North Korea began at the end of World War II in 1945. The surrender of Japan led to the division of Korea at the 38th parallel, with the Soviet Union occupying the north, and the United States occupying the south. The Soviet Union ...

from archives in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, China, (East)

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. NKIDP believes that the efforts of contemporary scholars and policymakers are too often hampered by a distinct lack of knowledge about the North Korean leadership and political system. With no history of diplomatic relations with

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

and severely limited access to the country’s elite, it is difficult for Western policymakers, journalists, and academics to understand the forces and intentions behind North Korea's enigmatic actions. In cooperation with the

University of North Korean Studies The University of North Korean Studies () is a university in Seoul, South Korea that was founded in 2005 by merging Kyungnam University's North Korean studies department founded in 1997 and the Far East Problems Research Centre (극동문제연� ...

(Seoul) and an international network of researchers, the NKIDP provides access to both original and translated archival documents on the DPRK, publishes an NKIDP Working Paper series, regularly contributes to the

Cold War International History Project The Cold War International History Project is part of the History and Public Policy Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Project was founded in 1991 with the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundati ...

(CWIHP) Bulletin series, and holds frequent conferences and workshops at the Wilson Center as well as throughout East Asia. The NKIDP is supported by the

Korea Foundation The Korea Foundation (Korean: 한국국제교류재단, Hanja: 韓國國際交流財團) is a non-profit public diplomacy organization established in 1991 to promote a better understanding of Korea and strengthen friendships in the international ...

and other donors.

References

External links

* {{Official, 1=http://www.wilsoncenter.org/about-nkidp
NKIDP's Modern Korean History Portal

NKIDP's Inter-Korean Relations Database

">"北, 중국 믿지 않아"<美전문가>
– Article features on Yonhap news highlighting the NKIDP coordinator James Person
“80년대말 南인사, 동독거쳐 비밀訪北” 확인
– Article on Donga Daily featuring NKIDP documents obtained from E. Germany's STASI archive Organizations specializing in North Korean issues