North Korea
Putin’s diplomacy roadshow in North Korea and Vietnam
North Korea’s decision to revive a 1961 alliance treaty with Russia during President Vladimir Putin’s visit in June is probably the country’s most remarkable diplomatic feat…
Putin goes to Pyongyang: Should we be worried?
In Pyongyang last month Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a new strategic treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.This was Putin’s first visit to Pyongyang in 24…
Pariah states and the Olympic Games
As the world eagerly anticipates the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the intersection of international politics and sport once again takes centre stage. The participation of so…
With friends like these … Russia and North Korea partner up
“Comprehensive strategic partnership” has become diplomat-speak par excellence, a phrase that now accompanies canapes and the cocktail circuit as a “like-minded” cliché…
Putin in Asia: Setting a cat among the pigeons
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit last week to Pyongyang and Hanoi captured headlines around the world. But it was hardly unexpected – indeed, a logical step in Russia’s…
Koreas policy: Sorting fact with fiction
The relationship between the factual and fictional representation of a country is a complex question for analysts and the wider public. But drawing both together offers an…
With balloons in the sky, North Korea keeps its feet on the ground
North Korea is finally delivering on its promise, although with an unusual payload. After warning South Korea that it would scatter “mounds of wastepaper and filth” on Sunday in…
North Korea’s population problem
In a rare display, North Korea’s Chairman Kim Jong-un shed tears when discussing his country’s declining birth rate in December 2023. It was the first time that North…
Trouble together: How North Korea sees its growing interests with Iran
Following months of strengthening its relationship with Russia, North Korea is expanding its horizons, by sending a diplomatic delegation to Tehran to explore potential avenues…
North Korea’s new threat: “Core central striking means”
North Korea regularly threatens to turn the South Korean capital Seoul into a “sea of fire” but it is conventional artillery weapons – not nuclear strikes – that have long been…