Reworking the frame: analysis of current discourses on North Korea and a case study of North Korean labour in Dandong, China

North Korea remains a place of obscurity, mystery and even of imminent threat in popular imagination of East Asia and America. In this article, we explore existing representations of and discourses around North Korea and argue for a different framework to consider how North Korea is a critical participant in the contemporary world. Drawing on our respective fieldwork in Dandong, China, throughout 2006 to 2014, the article suggests a new way of thinking about issues surrounding North Korea.