The Black Box

"Many call North Korea a "Black Box." The world can readily observe its external behavior, but very little is known about its inner workings. Every discussion of North Korea, even those among proverbial experts, is prefaced with the qualifier that no one really knows what is going on inside the country and that even the experts are stumped, reduced to making educated guesses about the regime's intentions. Without access to information, viable entry to the country, or a transparent press, most analysts throw up their hands in despair when it comes to understanding North Korea. In this book, Victor D. Cha and colleagues demonstrate that there is ample open-source information to understand North Korea. Each chapter, authored by Cha and various collaborators, uses a different unique method to build data and make new arguments about North Korea. Using these open-source methods, Cha contends, it is possible to paint a vivid picture of this mysterious country, as well as make predictions about its behavior. Demystifying the Black Box provides both an understanding of contemporary politics in North Korea and an insightful guide to studying the country from one of the field's most esteemed experts"--