
Show Notes
In this episode, NK News Deputy Managing Editor David Choi and Senior Analytical Correspondent Colin Zwirko discuss newly released U.S. Justice Department files that show the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein explored possible business opportunities in North Korea.
The conversation then shifts to the two North Korean prisoners of war currently held in Ukraine, including the diplomatic and legal complexity around any transfer to South Korea and the likelihood that their status could become part of a wider Russia-Ukraine prisoner exchange.
They conclude by discussing North Korea’s announcement that it will hold the Ninth Party Congress in late February, as well as the latest on preparations for the event in Pyongyang.
About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insights from our very own journalists.
More from North Korea News Podcast by NK News
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.
NK News Correspondent Joon Ha Park joins the podcast this week to discuss his exclusive interview with Canada’s Chief of the Defense Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan on what North Korea is gaining from its military cooperation with Russia and how Canada could help South Korea prepare for emerging security threats.
Edward Goldring, senior lecturer in political science at the University of Melbourne and author of the new book “Purges: How Dictators Fight to Survive,” joins the podcast to discuss why authoritarian leaders remove senior officials and what those purges can reveal about political survival.
NK News Correspondent Joon Ha Park and Michael Bosack, former deputy secretary of the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission, join the podcast this week to discuss the Sept. 21 landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), what investigators have established about the North Korean mine involved and why questions remain over how it ended up south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).
NK News Data Correspondent Anton Sokolin and Lead Correspondent Shreyas Reddy join the podcast this week to discuss Russia’s new ambassador to North Korea, Pyongyang’s latest cyber operations and the growing dispute between Seoul and Kyiv over two North Korean prisoners of war.