Victor Cha

Instagram
Bluesky
X

BOOKS
COLUMNS
DATABASES
PODCASTS
TESTIMONIES
TV/MEDIA

Database: China’s High-Dependence Goods for Targets of Economic Coercion

Original data showing that China is highly dependent on hundreds of exported items from countries that Beijing targets with economic coercion.

Timeline: North Korea-Russia Cooperation since 2022

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has had a direct ripple in the Korean peninsula by renewing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia. This timeline closely follows these new developments, tracks arms transfers between the two countries, and other cooperation between the two countries. Forthcoming.

Dataset: China, Iran and North Korea’s Support for Ukraine War

China, Iran and North Korea has helped Russia waged its war in Ukraine by providing ammunitions, drones, materials, missiles, troops and increasing trade and defense cooperation. Forthcoming.

Database: Covid-19 in North Korea

We partnered with an organization to conduct micro-surveys in North Korea during the second half of 2023, with a total sample size of 100 North Koreans. This will be the first published study of human rights abuses inside of North Korea associated with the Covid-19 global pandemic. Forthcoming.

Database: How Trump Sees Allies and Partners

Donald Trump’s treatment of allies and partners is more predictable than they may surmise. Trumpian statements proliferate about the need for counterparts to do more and to pay their fair share. CSIS visualizes who is in the “Safe Zone” and the “Danger Zone.”

Database: Chinese Economic Coercion since 1997

New original dataset on the weaponization of economic interdependence by China against 18 countries and 396 companies, with over 400 cases since 1997. Forthcoming.

Map of North Korea’s Balloons

The only interactive map documenting over 32 waves of North Korean garbage balloons sent into South Korea in 2024. These balloons have been found to contain trash such as animal and human feces, batteries, cigarette butts, clothes, dark soil, plastic bottles, toilet paper, wastepaper, and vinyl.

Map of North Korean Markets

We located at least 436 official sanctioned markets in North Korea, including its geographical location, physical footprint, approximate number of vendor stalls, and estimated rents generated for the regime through market activity.

Database: North Korean Provocations

The most comprehensive database of all North Korean provocations since the Korean War in 1953, beginning with the first provocation documented in 1958. There has been more than 450 instances of provocations, including from missile and nuclear tests, airplane hijackings, bombings, exchange of fire, to infiltration and territorial incursions into South Korea.

Database: Donald Trump’s Skepticism of U.S. Troops in Korea Since 1990

A dataset of 122 statements showing Trump’s skepticism of the utility of US troop commitment to allies.

Database: China-North Korea High Level Visits Since 1953

Dataset of all high-level visits between China and North Korea from 1953 to the present.

Database: North Korean Provocations and U.S.-ROK Military Exercises

Dataset examining relationship between North Korean provocations and US-South Korea military exercises between 2005 to 2016.

Database: ROK Elections and DPRK Provocations

To study the relationship between North Korean provocations and South Korean elections, we created a database of events incorporating both presidential and national assembly elections from the South Korea over the last six decades.

Database: U.S. Elections and North Korean Provocations

We conducted a study of whether there are patterns to North Korean behavior around U.S. elections. To carry out this study we created a dataset of US election events, incorporating both presidential and congressional midterm election years, and cross-tabulated this information with our original dataset on North Korean provocations over the same period.

Database: U.S. Peace Assurances to North Korea

North Korea claims the U.S. has a “hostile policy” towards them that prevents peace on the Korean peninsula and an end to the Korean War. However, our data shows that since 1989, the U.S. has offered more security assurances to North Korea than to any other non-ally; morever, it provided more explicit language of non-hostile intent to North Korea than to any other country.

Timeline of South Korea’s Response to Covid-19

To document the trajectory of South Korea’s national response efforts against the spread of COVID-19, we created a timeline of events outlining policies and other measures implemented to date.

Survey: A View Inside North Korea

In 2016 and 2017, we conducted the first micro-surveys of North Koreans in North Korea on issues such as United States, nuclear weapons program, unification, markets and public distribution system, and access to information.

Database: Unification Transparency Index

We created in 2016 the first-ever database of expert assessments that try to quantify how much we know about unification. While it has become commonplace to say that there are many “unknowns” and “dangers” associated with Korean unification, these variables have never been measured and remain cloaked in opacity.

Follow my work

Twitter/X

Bluesky

Instagram

CSIS profile

Georgetown profile