Jerome Sauvage on North Korea’s crises, contradictions and quiet moments
North Korea News Podcast by NK NewsShow Notes
Former U.N. official Jerome Sauvage joins this week’s podcast to discuss his new book, Witness to North Korea: Three Years on the Ground in the DPRK, which recounts his posting in Pyongyang from late 2009 to early 2013.
He explains why he accepted one of the U.N.’s most difficult assignments and what it took to reopen the U.N. Development Programme office after its 2007 closure amid allegations over financial controls and sanctions evasion.
The conversation explores North Korea’s failed 2009 currency redenomination, the gap between Pyongyang and the impoverished countryside and what census data, cooperative farms and the public distribution system revealed about chronic food insecurity and the growing importance of markets.
Sauvage also reflects on living in North Korea during the sinking of the Cheonan warship and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, as well as attending Kim Jong Il’s official wake and observing the fear, grief and uncertainty surrounding Kim Jong Un’s rise to power.
About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Alannah Hill 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.
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Editor’s note: This interview was recorded in July 2026. Some references to recent events and political developments reflect the situation at the time of recording and may differ from subsequent developments.
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