It took some doing, performing magic tricks with lecture halls, conjuring up discussants, contacting every media outlet in and outside Europe, and fighting off some dodgy characters with pronounced Hwanghae-do accents (no, not really), but the program for the conference has been finalized. It seems as if there’ll be lots of people, which is why we made sure to get the biggest lecture hall of Leiden University. And trust me, it is big. Big enough to accommodate the speakers, discussants, audience and the media. Haven’t heard from Pyongyang yet, so the Rodong Shinmun may decide not to send their star reporter after all. (S/)he is probably busy writing up acceptable (from a Juche point of view, that is) versions of the power struggle and sure-to-follow elite purges in Pyongyang anyway. Except for the Rodong Shinmun and the BBC, then, everyone seems to be coming. Apart from (not) reporting on the power struggle between the OGD and The Rest Of Pyongyang, funds are apparently limited. And it’s hardly a surprise, I guess, that the BBC isn’t coming. God (or Dear Leader) forbid they’d have write something critical about engaging with North Korea. My apologies, I’m feeling a bit snarky today. Here’s the conference flyer, btw. Enjoy it and see you in Leiden in two weeks. A State of Non-Legitimacy flyer