The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' North Korea International Documentation Project and the Korea Economic Institute of America will co-host a briefing on the recent trip of a group of U.S.-based scholars of modern Korean politics and history to North Korea. Charles Armstrong, director of the Center for Korean Studies at Columbia University, Abraham Kim, vice president of the Korea Economic Institute, and James F. Person, project coordinator of the Wilson Center's North Korea International Documentation Project will share some insights from their mid-June trip.

The group traveled extensively throughout the country, meeting with faculty and students at major universities, including Kim Il Sung University and the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (the first outside visitors ever permitted on campus), and toured the countryside. Informed by a broader knowledge of North Korean politics and history, they return with fresh insights about the current political and economic climate, the efficacy of sanctions, penetration of technology, and the food situation.

Christian Ostermann, director of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program will chair this event.