Kim Jong Un has had a busy and bellicose start to 2024. On January 14, the North Korean leader presided over the test of a “new solid-fuel hypersonic missile with intermediate range.” Two days later, during a speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly meeting in Pyongyang, Kim declared South Korea “the North’s primary foe and […]

The post Kim’s war threat all about his domestic woes appeared first on Asia Times.

Is Kim Jong Un about to go to war, sending his fancy new missiles to wreak havoc on one or more enemy countries? Will the first target be in Japan? South Korea? The United States (specifically Guam, which is within range)? Two longtime North Korea watchers – why do I want to call them Henny […]

The post Henny Penny, Chicken Little warn: N Korea’s sky is falling appeared first on Asia Times.

More missile tests, rapidly advancing relations with Russia and China and zero progress on diplomacy with the United States and South Korea – this was the direction North Korea took in 2023. While the rest of the world was distracted by conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, Pyongyang continued biding its time, expanding its military arsenal […]

The post Pyongyang’s pivot back to military tensions appeared first on Asia Times.

In November 2023, North Korea decided to close its foreign diplomatic missions in Angola, Hong Kong, Nepal, Spain, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Senegal and Guinea.  These closures likely come as the result of financial hardship due to international sanctions as well as the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. But an impending domestic food […]

The post North Korea closing embassies in a fit of desperation appeared first on Asia Times.

This year, unusually, North Korea allowed more than one candidate on the ballot for the recent local elections. Under new laws introduced in August this year, voters are now asked to choose between two candidates for North Korea’s local and regional assemblies. Then in a second vote, they either approve or disapprove of the winning […]

The post More clues Kim is dynastically grooming his daughter appeared first on Asia Times.

At the end of July, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, as well as Chinese Politburo member Li Hongzhong, as he showed off his most powerful missiles during a huge military parade in Pyongyang. But while most international attention was focused on what the visit and military display meant […]

The post The bodyguards who keep Kim Jong Un safe and alive appeared first on Asia Times.

On the surface, sanctions seem to have had little impact on North Korea’s behavior. At the time of writing, the world is waiting for the launch of a new North Korean military spy satellite that Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un announced on April 19, 2023. North Korea is under one of the harshest multilateral sanctions […]

The post The complicated truth about North Korea sanctions appeared first on Asia Times.

Three years after Covid-19 hit, people around the world have regained their freedom to move between countries. One country is an exception: North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), where always-severe limitations on mobility turned into virtually absolute prohibitions during the pandemic. In January 2020, Kim Jong Un decided to isolate the […]

The post Covid keeps N Korea in starving self-isolation appeared first on Asia Times.

North Korea is flexing its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) capabilities again with a new nuclear-armed underwater drone and nuclear-capable subsonic cruise missiles. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over tests of a new nuclear-armed underwater drone. This test demonstrated the weapon infiltrating enemy waters and […]

The post North Korea’s nuclear threat takes an underwater turn appeared first on Asia Times.

North Korea celebrated the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army in February. As it showed off 12 of its massive intercontinental ballistic missile in a military parade, expert Korea-watchers spotted there appear to have been some significant changes in the country’s military and political hierarchy. Choe Ryong-hae, the chairman of the […]

The post Living and dying by the purge in North Korea appeared first on Asia Times.

For the people of North Korea, 2022 was another difficult year. But as 2023 dawns, glimmers of hope are emerging as the country’s foreign trade with China and Russia begins to resume. Food security remains the greatest challenge facing the North Korean people. The UN’s World Food Program estimates that 10.7 million people — over 40% of the […]

The post A glimmer of hope for North Korea in 2023 appeared first on Asia Times.

In 2022, North Korea exported tensions through stepped-up missile tests and threats toward South Korea. It also kept a national quarantine that prevented official imports of economic goods in place, but ultimately failed to keep Covid-19 from infecting the country. North Korea achieved a record number of around 90 missile tests of various types and ranges, including […]

The post Economic woe behind Pyongyang’s military bluster appeared first on Asia Times.

From September-December 2022, North Korea had its most active missile testing period in history, including a day in November featuring a 23-missile barrage. Whether it was the technical need for testing systems under development, training for missile crews, capability demonstrations for international messaging or taking advantage of a permissive international environment (in which China and Russia […]

The post Kim unchained heralds new nuclear war reality appeared first on Asia Times.

At the beginning of 2022, North Korea’s strategic position looked bleak. The regime clung to its zero-Covid claim, leading to an almost total closure of the border with China and bringing trade to record lows. There were strong indications that China was easing up on enforcing the UN sanctions that ban it from importing North Korean coal, as well […]

The post Russia, China bring North Korea in from the cold appeared first on Asia Times.

The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan — abbreviated as Chongryon in Korean — has long served the interests of the North Korean government in Japan under the supervision of the 225th Bureau of the United Front Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea. It is the only conduit between the governments of North Korea and […]

The post Chongryon: The only way North Korea talks to Japan appeared first on Asia Times.

On December 26, five North Korean drones penetrated South Korean airspace, with one or more flying around the northern part of the South Korean capital, Seoul. Despite the fact that the South Korean air force scrambled jets and helicopters and reportedly chased the invaders, not one was shot down.   If the information available is correct, the […]

The post North Korea may be using Iranian drones appeared first on Asia Times.

On September 19, 2018, after signing the Pyongyang Declaration with then-South Korean president Moon Jae-in, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared his desire for the Korean Peninsula to be free from nuclear weapons. In his speech at the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang that evening, Moon reaffirmed this. North Korea followed its leader’s pledges by closing […]

The post Breaking North Korea’s denuclearization deadlock appeared first on Asia Times.

Unfazed by US sanctions and military shows of force, North Korea is ramping up its missile program in a spate of blasts that have launched a spy satellite, fired ballistic missiles and tested a solid-fuel rocket motor. This week, Reuters reported that North Korean state media outlet Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) stated that the […]

The post North Korea blasting to stay relevant in new Cold War appeared first on Asia Times.

SEOUL – As both South and North Korea conduct live artillery drills on either side of the Demilitarized Zone, the nature of the situation’s actual risk remains unclear. Are the North’s angry rhetoric, and barrages that violate mutually agreed-upon buffer zones, preludes to an upcoming artillery strike, based on a deadly 2010 modus operandi, as […]

The post Phony artillery war between Koreas raises tensions – and questions appeared first on Asia Times.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea capitalized upon China’s and Russia’s tense relationship with the United States by reviving ties with its Cold War partners. Such rapprochement is anything but a strategic realignment. It is transactional – a way for North Korea to benefit economically while accelerating the scope and sophistication of its nuclear […]

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