North Korea
Should Trump win, will Kim Jong-un pick up the phone?
Imagine Donald Trump does win in the US Presidential election next year. Will he expect another “beautiful letter” from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un?
Trump’s summitry bromance…
The extra bad news behind the latest Korean break-down
North Korea sent a satellite rocket up, and a key deal with South Korea came tumbling down.
The effective scrapping last week of the inter-Korean military agreement was not…
Russia-North Korea: Closer, but not too close
Recent steps towards closer Russia-North Korea relations have been met with concern and apprehension in the United States and South Korea.
In September, North Korean leader Kim…
How vulnerable is South Korea to a “Hamas-style” attack from the North?
The shock of the Hamas 7 October attack on Israel has reverberated to South Korea, sparking a debate about how vulnerable the country could be to a similar surprise attack from…
The historical roots of North Korea’s lucky break with Russia
In early September 2022, The New York Times published a story about Russia secretly buying North Korean artillery for the war in Ukraine. Since then, relations between the…
North Korea undeterred – to Putin’s pleasure
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin pledged to stand together against “imperialism” after meeting on Wednesday, their first face-to-face summit in four years…
Can North Korea play off Russia against China?
Flanking North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the podium in Pyongyang several weeks ago, top Russian and Chinese officials watched a show of the country’s assembled missile forces…
The curious tales of defectors to North Korea
North Korea has once again been making headlines, but not for the usual reasons. This time, it was not about a missile test or aggressive rhetoric from state-run media. In fact,…
Bridging the divide: the significance of the US-South Korea-Japan trilateral
The Philippines may be the oldest US treaty ally in Asia, but South Korea and Japan are arguably the closest. The US-South Korea mutual defence treaty will turn 70 years…
“Solidarity with Russia”: North Korea cements an anti-US bloc
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, North Korea last week welcomed foreign visitors to Pyongyang, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice…