The ultimate resource for professionals working on North Korea

Specialist DPRK news and analysis, bespoke research tools, and unique data sets

Discover how NK Pro will accelerate your work on DPRK

NK Pro is built by North Korea specialists for professionals working on or with the subject

RESEARCH HUB

Connect the dots on North Korea with the largest structured database of DPRK-focused information in the world, updated in real-time from over 100 hand-selected sources daily

© Korea Risk Group (NK Consulting INC.) All Rights Reserved.

RESEARCH TOOLS

UNIQUE EXPERTISE

10+ custom-developed research tools and proprietary databases to save you time and surface meaningful information and data you might otherwise miss

Engage with NK Pro analysts and experts via interactive quarterly seminars while accessing specialist analysis and reports on DPRK you won't find anywhere else

Research Hub

Keeping up to date with the full range of news, analysis and research on North Korea being published every day takes at least five hours of dedicated work, without even considering what's being covered in the non-English domain.

It also requires luck, for often the DPRK's own news portals are down or otherwise inaccessible. And when they are online, searching North Korean sites is next to impossible, with archives routinely erased or altered to suit emerging historical narratives.

But with NK Pro, not only can you stay up to date with the issues you care most about in seconds, you'll also get access to translated foreign media monitoring, an always-on way to view official DPRK media, and access to the most advanced searching systems to deal with the DPRK in the world.

KCNA Watch 3.0

Browse and search real-time updated archives of official DPRK media outlet, including KCNA's DPRK and Japanese based sites, Uriminzokkiri the Pyongyang Times, Rodong Sinmun, Tongil Sinbo and numerous monthly and quarterly periodicals.

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Introducing the NK Aggregator, KCNA Watch 3, 
Foreign Media Monitor and Inbox Push Services

NK Aggregator 

Over 100 DPRK information sources at your fingertips, updating in real-time

Stay up to date with issues you care about,
while saving hundreds of hours a year in the process

FILTER OUT THE NOISE

Our aggregation system comprises over 100 hand-picked news, think-tank, blog, and academic sources, all known for regular and reliable output on the DPRK. Advanced search allows you to surface high quality results in seconds, with multiple filters available for further refinement.

Want to quickly find out about Angola-DPRK relations or see the latest news and analysis on the National Defence Commission? With our intuitive 'Filter' system you can browse coverage going back to the mid-1990s on any one of hundreds of topics and issues at the click of a button.

REALTIME TAGGING & CATEGORIZATION

Generate charts from the media output of one or several of the sources covered by our system to get a snapshot overview of how reporting trends are changing. Charts and underlying data provide a particularly useful way to detect evolving reporting trends in DPRK state media.

CHARTS AND UNIQUE DATA

Better understand information sources covering North Korea through our custom database, with information on political bias, reporting frequency, country of origin and more all available. Useful for educating newcomers about the nuances of understanding outlets covering the DPRK.

DUE DILLIGENCE ON SOURCING

What our users think

Existing NK Pro subscribers come from sectors including intelligence, the UN system, leading think-tanks, Ivy League schools, and international press.

Ambassador John Everard

The only search engine for browsing up-to-date DPRK state media in the world

UNRIVALLED UNIFIED SEARCH ACROSS ALL DPRK MEDIA

KCNA Watch 3.0 is today the only system in the world capable of searching official DPRK media reports. With advanced searching capabilities, users can locate official reports from multiple DPRK media outlets in an instant. 

ALWAYS ON AND ALWAYS ACCESSIBLE

Either click to read articles on official North Korean-hosted servers, or, in the event of DPRK server outages or slow response times, view a lightning fast text-only replication on our internationally-hosted KCNA Watch server.

After the purge of Jang Song Thaek, North Korean propagandists deleted tens of thousands of articles from their primary KCNA.KP news site, meaning archives today now only go back to 2013. Furthermore, numerous articles and photos were altered. Access the original, unaltered materials through the KCNA Watch 3.0 database.

ORIGINAL AND UNALTERED NEWS ARCHIVES

COMING SOON: AUTOMATED REALTIME ALERTS

KCNA Watch 3.0 will soon offer user-customizable news alerts, pushing breaking stories of interest direct to your cellphone or email inbox. Get Foreign Ministry or National Defence Commission statements before everyone else.

Foreign Media Monitor

There is an incredible amount of vital information and analysis emerging daily from non-English speaking countries around the world.  But traditional news wires and aggregation services are only translating a tiny percentage of this. 

Quite literally, a huge amount of important information and opinion is being lost in translation.

With the NK Pro 'Foreign Media Monitor', every Wednesday we provide human translated summaries of news, analysis and opinion on North Korea from China, South Korea, Russia and Japan.

That means you get access to North Korea-focused information from North Korea's largest trading partners and geopolitical adversaries without needing to speak six different languages... you only need one, English.

Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Russian news and analysis translated and summarized weekly

Inbox Push Services

With the Morning Briefing, Week Ahead, and Breaking Alerts,
your inbox will keep you up to date, wherever you go

The Morning Briefing

Save literally hundreds of hours each year in research time by browsing exhaustive North Korea coverage sent direct to your inbox from over 100 sources, with links organized by category for your convenience.

Sent at 7AM ET daily (other timezones coming soon), the Morning Briefing gives you a complete and up-to-date view of the latest DPRK news and analysis. 

News, opinion and analysis, think-tank publications and North Korea opportunities are all included in the service.

Keep abreast of the latest events, conferences and predictable news events with our "Week Ahead Service" (sent Mondays).

Save hours in research time every month and let NK Pro take the strain of finding programs of direct relevance to your professional interest in the DPRK.

The Week Ahead

Be among the first to learn about major news events through our Alert service, which provides subscribers with information about headline events on a timely basis.

Before summer 2016, alerts will be customizable according to user preferences and interest areas.

Breaking Alerts

Pro Research Tools 

Hassle-free access to proprietary and open source data, directories and databases

Data Visualization

Unique Databases

Comprehensive Directories

While North Korea is traditionally regarded as a 'black box' when it comes to data, the surprising reality is that there are many sets of data online which relate directly to the DPRK.

Not only does NK Pro bring together a wide range of proprietary and existing data  for users' convenience, but it does so in a way that is intuitive and accessible, via visualization tools that make exploring large data sets to observe trends child's play.

Furthermore – and drawing on the very lists our NK News journalists use day to day – NK Pro users have access to a range of regularly updated directories of organizations, companies, experts and practitioners working in this specialist field.

NK Leadership Tracker

Track the appearances of every member of the North Korean leadership since 1994, detect changing leadership priorities, access individual biographies of nearly 300 elites, and map out visits using the NK Leadership Tracker. Updated monthly with primary data sourced directly from KCNA reporting, this is the most comprehensive database of its type in the world.

An unrivalled source of leadership appearance data and biographies

1. View bios and observe appearance trends

• View leadership resumes, including career timeline
• Detect changes in individual elite priorities and contacts
• Appearance rank data shows elites falling in and out of favor
• 300+ bios, updated on a monthly basis

2. Filter appearances by category, date and location

• Gauge changing leadership priorities at a glance with the dashboard view
• Filters allow user to focus on data specific to relevant area of research
• Export data to process in third party software by dragging mouse
• View individual elite appearances in an intuitive display

• View summaries of individual leadership appearances
• Elite rankings section records KCNA prioritization of attendees
• Obtain URL for external KCNA report link

3. Read appearance reports and check rankings

NK Ship Tracker

Using the latest tracking technology, investigation and data from the international shipping community, NK Pro provides information on DPRK ship movements.

Both ships directly flagged to the DPRK and those linked to DPRK entities can be tracked and observed at the click of a button, using the NK Ship Tracker.

Though North Korean fleet behavior has likely changed since the advent of commercially available tracking methods, following North Korean fleet behavior is crucial as it presents data sets useful for detecting anomalous activities and trends.

Track DPRK flagged and vessels linked to DPRK entities

NK Import / Export Map

Interactive visualization for exploring UN Comtrade data

It's possible to use mirror statistics from other countries who report their figures to numerous data collection agencies. These can help ascertain macro trade interactions between North Korea and its import/export partners.

NK Pro has adapted this data specifically for researchers working on DPRK issues, presenting a convenient visualization for viewing the numbers by country, product type, and dollar value of trade each year.

Alongside other indicators available at NK Pro, Comtrade data can help in the analysis of DPRK economic growth, domestic exports and imports.

NK Leading Indicators

Data from multiple sources – on multiple outputs – in one place

While obtaining reliable data from inside North Korea is no easy feat, a surprising number of indicators do exist, published or updated every year by researchers and practitioners in South Korea and other neighboring countries.

Though the data often has to be considered with caveats in mind, by bringing multiple sources together one can paint a surprisingly detailed picture of economic activity inside the DPRK, and indeed industrial output.

To make your life easier, the NK Leading Indicators visualization brings multiple sources of data together in one place, allowing you to manipulate, visualize and export all at the click of a button.

NK Company Database

The only DPRK company and business directory in the world

Compiled using information from the DPRK's quarterly Foreign Trade publication in combination with UN Sanctions reports and related documents, the NK Company Database is the world's only directory of DPRK-based companies and joint ventures in the world.

Conveniently organized by category of output, company entries includes basic background information as published in Foreign Trade, listed product types of import and export, and crucially, information on whether the company is under current UN sanctions.

Contact information is included wherever possible, though as with other foreign-facing DPRK contact information, interlocutors on the ground in Pyongyang are highly recommended for making real contact with companies of interest.

NK Institutional Directory

The North Korea Institutional Directory brings together background information and contact details on hundreds of organizations with work focusing on or projects inside the DPRK.

With entries in the database categorized and geo-mapped, users can save time in identifying organizations most relevant to their interests – and the details for contacting them – all at the click of a button.

The database includes a comprehensive selection of organizations, including scores from South Korea that are not readily identifiable through Western search portals.
 

Find Embassies, Think Tanks, NGOs, and other organizations focusing on DPRK

Joining more dots

NK Document Repository, Expert Database and KCTV Archives help you find what you need, when you need it

NK Document Repository

A searchable database of contemporary reports, long-form research and scholarly materials, all focused on North Korea.

With sources including agencies within the UN system, national governments, leading think-tanks and academic organizations, the NK Document Repository is updated on a quarterly basis to ensure all of the latest findings on the DPRK can be browsed and accessed from one place.

Not only does the service help users as a time-saver, but it also can help surface documents that individual researchers may be otherwise unaware of.

Based on the same rolodex of individuals that inform readers of NK News every day with insights and commentary, the NK Expert Database is the world's only directory of specialists and experts working on or with the DPRK.

Including everyone from academic experts to practitioners in the field, the categorized and searchable directory features public contact information wherever possible, and useful biographies to help users find out more about individuals.

NK Expert Database

Updated from Japanese servers every business day, the KCTV Archive features a recording of the latest DPRK news broadcasts, all accessible via a convenient date-selectable player.

With North Korean TV news often showcasing new developments with a level of visual coverage unavailable anywhere else, the KCTV Archives are a useful way to add a further level to researchers' work.

KCTV Archives

Unique Expertise

Accelerate your work with the insight of a team of analysts, journalists and experts at your fingertips

Pro Analysis

Pro News

Pro Reports

In addition to obtaining access to a wide suite of research tools, NK Pro subscribers can also read the latest output from our team of specialist analysts, journalists and expert contributors.

Pro News brings together the latest developments in the political, business, legal and infrastructure sectors, written by leading journalists in the North Korea field.

Pro Analysis is where our analytic team members will be making sense of political, military, infrastructure and agricultural developments, on a weekly basis.

And in a new feature, our Pro Reports will take a salami-slice approach to disecting major sub-topics within the North Korea field, such as sanctions, DPRK tourism, or South Korea's human rights community, all written by experts leading those fields.

NK Aviation Tracker

Using radio tracking technology, visual sightings and other open sources, NK Pro now provides comprehensive information on the movement of aircraft to, from and within the DPRK.

Given increased scrutiny on sate airline Air Koryo, due to suspicions of involvement in the transportation of sanctioned materials, understanding where the airlines’ planes are going has become increasingly important.

But while websites like FlightAware and Flight Radar 24 provide some data for free, obtaining historical data – which is far from comprehensive – requires the payment of hefty fees. And crucially, those services miss two vital sources of flight data: physical sightings of North Korean airliners in third countries and Air Koryo’s own domestic airline timetable data.

As such, our aviation tracker provides the world’s only North Korea-specific tool for observing flights going into and out of the DPRK.

Track commercial flights to, from and within North Korea

Pricing Options

NK Missile Tracker

North Korea's operational arsenal is primarily made up of short range, liquid-propellant systems derived from the Soviet R-17E under the command of the KPA Strategic Force. DPRK missile units are called “Hwasong Artillery Units” by state media.

Using data from NK News journalists and analysts, as well as official government statements, the NKPRO Missile Tracker provides an easily accessible database of missile and missile-related systems tests and exercises. This app tracks the type of the missiles currently tested and fielded by the DPRK, the test or launch dates for each system, the launch site of each test, and the news reporting around each event. 

This allows for both analysis of the tests and of the reporting around the tests to better understand how sources differ in reporting the same technical event.

Track missile activity, inventory, and performance