We report on a diverse and abundant mammal fauna from Chongphadae Cave—Hwangju region in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The cave sediments include many mammal fossils and consist of fluvial, cave clay, and calcareous deposits. During our field excavation 33 species were encountered: 9 species of rodents, 1 species of lagomorph, 1 species of insectivore, 8 species of carnivores, 4 species of perissodactyls, 9 species of artiodactyls, and 1 species of primates. Of these, perissodactyls and artiodactyls dominate the fauna in terms of diversity. The cave sediments include 15 layers. Radiocarbon dating showed that Layers 12 and 13 were formed from 34,770 to 27,800 cal yr BP and from 24,980 to 21,340 cal yr BP, respectively. Additional identification of various palyno-botanical remains including 25 families and genera of trees, 19 families and genera of grasses and herbs, and 10 families and genera of ferns provides a wealth of information on the past ecology of the Chongphadae Cave Site area. During the Late Pleistocene, the Chongphadae area was surrounded by luxuriant forests associated with hills and grasslands in a cool and humid temperate climatic environment.

North Korea is often characterized as some form of highly centralized rule: totalitarian, posttotalitarian, corporatist, or personalistic. This article argues that much of the confusion around understanding North Korea's actions stems from misplaced models. Much of the current thinking on North Korea's politics does not account for the limited institutional plurality in the system. The article documents how the state's political institutions have changed since the country's founding and highlights the formal and informal roles of each major bureaucracy today. The Korean Workers Party and the role of Juche have declined, but the National Defense Commission and “military-first politics” have not taken their place as reigning supreme. Rather the interaction between the Korean Workers Party, military, and cabinet helps explain and moderate policy outcomes.

This article deals with the problems of North Korean defectors currently living in South Korea. In the past, most such defectors came from privileged groups in the North Korean population, and their adjustment to the new environment did not pose a significant problem. However, from the mid-1990s, defectors began to come from the far less privileged groups. They experience serious problems related to jobs, education, crime, and social adjustment. Recent years have seen a dramatic but not always openly stated change in the official South Korean attitude toward defectors: from a policy explicitly aimed at encouraging defection, Seoul has moved to the policy of quietly discouraging it. There are fears that encouraging defection will undermine the policy of peaceful engagement with the North. There is also the perception that refugees are outsiders, not quite adjustable to the conditions of South Korean society and thus a social and budgetary burden.