California-born CHRIS SPRINGER is the author of Pyongyang: The Hidden History of the North Korean Capital. He also curated the 2002 exhibition Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Budapest. His research focuses on North Korean domestic history. He has visited North Korea three times.

Balá Szalontai is the author of Kim Il Sung in the Krushchev Era: Soviet-DPRK Relations and the Roots of North Korean Despotism, 1953-1964. His research concerns the modern history of Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, and Albania. He currently teaches at Mongolia International University, Ulaanbaatar.