REGISTER
You are invited to join NCNK for an online conversation with Jonathan Cheng, the China bureau chief and former Korea bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal. Cheng will explore the implications of the Kim family personality cult and how Kim Il Sung's selective application of certain Christian rituals and doctrines came to shape contemporary North Korean society. The discussion will also examine the role that faith and ideology have played in fortifying Kimist rule and how it has set North Korea apart from its socialist bloc peers.
About the Speaker
Jonathan Cheng is the China bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, overseeing the coverage of the world’s second-largest economy across a range of areas including politics, economics, business, technology, and society. He oversees a team of more than two dozen correspondents and researchers in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, and New York with responsibility for the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
Previously, Jonathan was the Seoul bureau chief for the Journal, running coverage of the Korean peninsula, including North Korea and South Korean politics and business. He began his career as an intern in the Journal’s Hong Kong bureau, and has also worked as a markets reporter in the New York office.
Jonathan speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, French, and Korean. A native of Toronto, Canada. He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in history. He lives in Beijing and has traveled to North Korea twice.