2 days ago
Why North Korea is modernising its conventional arsenal
Russia's war economy is fuelling Pyongyang's most ambitious military upgrade in decades.
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2 Dec 2025
Why xenophobia won't solve South Korea's China problem
A rise in anti-Chinese sentiment damages Seoul’s image and fails to address the real issues of defence and security. -
28 Nov 2025
The two Koreas: Could a North-South summit be in the works?
Kim’s renewed military confidence and Lee’s pragmatic diplomacy create the ideal conditions for a meeting. -
25 Nov 2025
What I learned about North Korea’s nuclear paranoia in Pyongyang
Misreading threats in Pyongyang two decades ago preceded nuclear weapons. Now similar fears spread across Asia. -
20 Nov 2025
Delay as a weapon: Fighting – and winning – on the clock
From the South China Sea to the battlefields in Ukraine, negotiations that never end can give a false sense of stability. -
12 Nov 2025
Will North Korea defend China in a Taiwan war?
Pyongyang’s contribution to Moscow’s war against Ukraine means a difficult question needs to be asked in the event shooting starts. -
23 Oct 2025
South Korea is on track to become a defence powerhouse
Seoul is quietly building a reputation as one of the world’s biggest weapons dealers. What’s behind the push? -
22 Oct 2025
A handshake can only reach so far – even in mending ties between North Korea and Malaysia
Restoring severed diplomatic ties will require patience and creative channels without domestic pressure to act. -
21 Oct 2025
Europe should back Donald Trump to again engage Kim Jong-un
With North Korean troops fighting Ukraine, the days of treating North Korea as a problem in splendid isolation are over. -
14 Oct 2025
Indonesia makes a quiet return to Pyongyang
Jakarta wants to take its bridge-building diplomacy from ASEAN to North Korea. -
8 Oct 2025
Vietnam is courting North Korea – and still winning Western friends
Hanoi’s multilateral approach lets it engage both Pyongyang and Washington, punching above its weight diplomatically. -
6 Oct 2025
The great omission: A clarifying statement on North Korea’s nukes
A quiet but seismic shift in Beijing’s language reveals a new reality: China now treats a nuclear North Korea as a practical reality. -
11 Sep 2025
Are there actually North Korean troops inside Ukraine?
With no reliable evidence of North Korean soldiers beyond Kursk, the reality isn’t matching the media hype. -
9 Sep 2025
Peacemaker, Pacemaker, Playmaker: The three-way formula for engaging North Korea
A coordinated US-South Korea-Japan approach could succeed where previous bilateral efforts with Pyongyang have failed. -
8 Sep 2025
The China-Russia-North Korea alliance that needs no name
The West should not be blinded by what is plain to see. -
27 Aug 2025
Seoul will struggle to find currency for Pyongyang talks
Without economic incentives or offering entree to the White House, South Korea could find itself sidelined in North Korea diplomacy. -
19 Aug 2025
Kim Jong-un builds destroyers his grandfather never could – to what ends?
Pyongyang’s navy program drains resources from proven deterrents but gives Kim a legacy project to rival his ancestors. -
11 Jul 2025
Can Seoul’s soft diplomacy break the Russia–North Korea alliance?
Pyongyang is reaping the benefits of its relationship with Moscow. South Korea’s new president wants to woo them back. -
2 Jun 2025
Seoul’s new leader faces an uphill battle on inter-Korean relations
The new president will need to balance Washington, Pyongyang and Moscow for any hope of peace on the Peninsula. -
27 May 2025
US troops in Korea may soon switch focus from Pyongyang to Beijing
Could America’s security rejig inadvertently strengthen an alliance between North Korea, China and Russia? -
13 May 2025
Why has North Korea finally admitted its troops are dying in Russia’s war on Ukraine?
Not even the Hermit Kingdom is immune to domestic pressure. -
12 May 2025
Time for a consistent approach to North Korean human rights
South Korea’s upcoming election offers a crucial chance for a policy reset. -
4 Apr 2025
After Yoon’s impeachment: The steep path to get the Koreas talking again
South Korea is headed back to the polls, just like its 2017. But different. -
2 Apr 2025
Why Donald Trump should meet Kim Jong-un again – in Mongolia
As a venue that addresses the practical and symbolic barriers that hampered previous efforts, Mongolia offers unique advantages. -
20 Mar 2025
The North Korea tourist trap
The border opened to foreign visitors for only a month before being sealed again. North Korean troops in Russia might be the reason. -
18 Mar 2025
Monitoring without mandate: Can sanctions succeed outside a UN framework?
The new “multilateral team” watching North Korea faces legitimacy challenges. -
6 Mar 2025
How US funding cuts could exacerbate North Korea’s humanitarian crisis
Trump’s obsession with getting the deal and an interest in resuming talks with Kim Jong Un all spell trouble for human rights. -
19 Feb 2025
Will North Korea support a US-Russia deal to end the war in Ukraine?
It’s another party to the conflict, after all. -
21 Jan 2025
This time, Russia stands in the way of any US‑North Korea deal
If Donald Trump wants to revive his showpiece negotiation, he will find the calculation has since changed. -
7 Jan 2025
The message North Korea sends by rotating its troops in Russia
Deeper military ties between these partners in arms reflect a stronger strategic alignment than the transactional relationship first anticipated. -
11 Dec 2024
Korean turmoil: What the North thinks looking South
A “main enemy” suffering disarray at home and ridicule from abroad, Pyongyang might suddenly warm to Yoon Suk-yeol… -
9 Dec 2024
Explaining North Korea’s silence amid South Korea’s political turmoil
Pyongyang has made plain that its attention is firmly elsewhere. -
21 Nov 2024
Cat-astrophe! What happens when dirty-minded North Koreans meet Iranian nuclear purrfidy
I spy an invisible cat. Two, in fact. -
21 Nov 2024
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19 Nov 2024
Why getting Pyongyang back to the negotiating table will be harder in Trump’s second term
The North Korea of 2025 is in a vastly different position to where it found itself in 2017. -
25 Oct 2024
As Russia struggles in Ukraine, North Korea benefits
Having found common cause under sanctions, Pyongyang and Moscow are forging new economic geography and with it pan-continental security dynamics. -
17 Oct 2024
North Korean troops in Russia: The first test of the Russia-North Korea alliance
Should the deployment be confirmed, history offers three ways to gauge the cohesion of Pyongyang’s ties to Moscow. -
24 Sep 2024
North Korea and its middle power friends
The latest Asia Power Index has Pyongyang pegged as Moscow’s best buddy…for now. -
23 Sep 2024
Power in Asia: Outliers and curiosities
Some findings of the latest Asia Power Index controvert conventional wisdom. -
16 Sep 2024
North Korean elite defectors on the rise?
South Korea must be careful not to politicise high-level defections from the North. -
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5 Jul 2024
Putin’s diplomacy roadshow in North Korea and Vietnam
Despite Moscow’s charm offensive, regional states are keeping their options open, and China remains the partner of choice. -
2 Jul 2024
Putin goes to Pyongyang: Should we be worried?
The renewed marriage of convenience between Russia and North Korea has global implications. -
2 Jul 2024
Pariah states and the Olympic Games
With the Paris Games only weeks away, the controversy around athletes from “rogue” countries is set to intensify. -
1 Jul 2024
With friends like these … Russia and North Korea partner up
Putin and Kim wanted to send a message of strength. But the world might have heard differently. -
28 Jun 2024
Putin in Asia: Setting a cat among the pigeons
Ever a pragmatist, the Russian leader’s calculated alignments are purely based on needs and interests. -
19 Jun 2024
Koreas policy: Sorting fact with fiction
You can’t understand a country without knowing the stories people like to invent. -
30 May 2024
With balloons in the sky, North Korea keeps its feet on the ground
Just mind not to step in the smelly message. -
13 May 2024
North Korea’s population problem
A demographic crisis is looming in the hermit kingdom and that has policy implications – foreign and domestic. -
30 Apr 2024
Trouble together: How North Korea sees its growing interests with Iran
Global isolation is building ties that bind. Better to engage and take away the incentive.