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  • 7 Jan 2025
    • North Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    The message North Korea sends by rotating its troops in Russia

    Olena Guseinova
    Deeper military ties between these partners in arms reflect a stronger strategic alignment than the transactional relationship first anticipated.
  • 11 Dec 2024
    • North Korea
    • South Korea

    Korean turmoil: What the North thinks looking South

    Gabriela Bernal
    A “main enemy” suffering disarray at home and ridicule from abroad, Pyongyang might suddenly warm to Yoon Suk-yeol…
  • 9 Dec 2024
    • North Korea
    • South Korea

    Explaining North Korea’s silence amid South Korea’s political turmoil

    Khang Vu
    Pyongyang has made plain that its attention is firmly elsewhere.
  • 21 Nov 2024
    • North Korea
    • Intelligence and security
    • Iran's Nuclear Program
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Iran
    • Israel

    Cat-astrophe! What happens when dirty-minded North Koreans meet Iranian nuclear purrfidy

    Daniel Flitton
    I spy an invisible cat. Two, in fact.
  • 21 Nov 2024
    • China
    • North Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Will North Korea annoy China, having sent troops to fight alongside Russia?

    Khang Vu
    Don’t bet on it.
  • 19 Nov 2024
    • North Korea
    • United States

    Why getting Pyongyang back to the negotiating table will be harder in Trump’s second term

    Gabriela Bernal
    The North Korea of 2025 is in a vastly different position to where it found itself in 2017.
  • 25 Oct 2024
    • North Korea
    • Russia

    As Russia struggles in Ukraine, North Korea benefits

    Luana Margarete Geiger
    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 Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    North Korean troops in Russia: The first test of the Russia-North Korea alliance

    Khang Vu
    Should the deployment be confirmed, history offers three ways to gauge the cohesion of Pyongyang’s ties to Moscow.
  • 24 Sep 2024
    • China
    • North Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    North Korea and its middle power friends

    Gabriela Bernal
    The latest Asia Power Index has Pyongyang pegged as Moscow’s best buddy…for now.
  • 23 Sep 2024
    • Asia
    • China
    • India
    • North Korea
    • Singapore
    • South Korea
    • United States

    Power in Asia: Outliers and curiosities

    Susannah Patton , Jack Sato
    Some findings of the latest Asia Power Index controvert conventional wisdom.
  • 16 Sep 2024
    • North Korea
    • South Korea

    North Korean elite defectors on the rise?

    Khang Vu
    South Korea must be careful not to politicise high-level defections from the North.
  • 12 Aug 2024
    • North Korea

    Family ties? How Kim Jong‑un is going his own way

    Khang Vu
    Every leader wants a legacy.
  • 5 Jul 2024
    • China
    • North Korea
    • Vietnam
    • Russia

    Putin’s diplomacy roadshow in North Korea and Vietnam

    Khang Vu
    Despite Moscow’s charm offensive, regional states are keeping their options open, and China remains the partner of choice.
  • 2 Jul 2024
    • Japan
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • United States

    Putin goes to Pyongyang: Should we be worried?

    Jane Hardy
    The renewed marriage of convenience between Russia and North Korea has global implications.
  • 2 Jul 2024
    • North Korea
    • France
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Human rights
    • Iran
    • Israel

    Pariah states and the Olympic Games

    Gabriela Bernal
    With the Paris Games only weeks away, the controversy around athletes from “rogue” countries is set to intensify.
  • 1 Jul 2024
    • North Korea
    • Russia

    With friends like these … Russia and North Korea partner up

    Huma Rehman
    Putin and Kim wanted to send a message of strength. But the world might have heard differently.
  • 28 Jun 2024
    • China
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Putin in Asia: Setting a cat among the pigeons

    Ian Hill
    Ever a pragmatist, the Russian leader’s calculated alignments are purely based on needs and interests.
  • 19 Jun 2024
    • North Korea
    • South Korea

    Koreas policy: Sorting fact with fiction

    Jeffrey Robertson
    You can’t understand a country without knowing the stories people like to invent.
  • 30 May 2024
    • North Korea
    • South Korea

    With balloons in the sky, North Korea keeps its feet on the ground

    Khang Vu
    Just mind not to step in the smelly message.
  • 13 May 2024
    • North Korea

    North Korea’s population problem

    Khang Vu
    A demographic crisis is looming in the hermit kingdom and that has policy implications – foreign and domestic. 
  • 30 Apr 2024
    • North Korea
    • Iran

    Trouble together: How North Korea sees its growing interests with Iran

    Gabriela Bernal
    Global isolation is building ties that bind. Better to engage and take away the incentive.  
  • 28 Mar 2024
    • North Korea
    • Nuclear Weapons

    North Korea’s new threat: “Core central striking means”

    Debalina Ghoshal
    Technological advancement is making nuclear disarmament goals even more difficult.
  • 6 Mar 2024
    • China
    • Japan
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • Russia
    • United States

    A summit between Japan and North Korea? About time

    Khang Vu
    With Kim Jong-un extending an olive branch to Tokyo, high-level talks may be on the cards, but roadblocks remain.
  • 28 Feb 2024
    • China
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • Russia
    • United Nations
    • United States

    Can South Korea become a global pivotal state?

    Gabriela Bernal
    With non-permanent member status on the UN Security Council, Seoul has a long list of goals to help make its mark.
  • 21 Feb 2024
    • China
    • North Korea
    • Russia
    • United States

    Open for business: North Korea welcomes back visitors

    Khang Vu
    Kim Jong-un has been on a charm offensive to rekindle trade and tourism links with friendly neighbours.
  • 31 Jan 2024
    • North Korea

    North Korea is not about to start a war

    Denny Roy
    Threats, yes, because Kim Jong-un fears political contamination from the South more.
  • 29 Jan 2024
    • North Korea

    Open and shut: North Korea sends a message with its embassy network

    Gabriela Bernal
    Pyongyang is matching resources to its priorities.
  • 15 Jan 2024
    • North Korea

    A new year, same old story on the Korean Peninsula in 2024

    Khang Vu
    Kim Jong-un’s recent rhetoric reflects the status quo more than a radical departure.
  • 3 Jan 2024
    • North Korea
    • Global Issues
    • Human rights
    • Review

    Why do we travel to unsettling places?

    Melissa Conley Tyler
    Whether the DMZ or sites of historic atrocities, place carries a connection to remind us of the precariousness of life.
  • 5 Dec 2023
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • United States

    Should Trump win, will Kim Jong-un pick up the phone?

    Khang Vu
    Circumstances have greatly changed since the “bromance” that captivated the world.
  • 28 Nov 2023
    • North Korea
    • South Korea

    The extra bad news behind the latest Korean break-down

    Gabriela Bernal
    Suspending the 2018 inter-Korean military accord not only fuels mistrust but shows neither side is looking for an off-ramp.
  • 27 Nov 2023
    • North Korea
    • Defence & Security
    • Russia

    Russia-North Korea: Closer, but not too close

    Ian Hill
    Gushing portrayals of a revived relationship should be treated with caution.
  • 6 Nov 2023
    • North Korea
    • South Korea

    How vulnerable is South Korea to a “Hamas-style” attack from the North?

    Khang Vu
    History makes Seoul’s concern understandable – but the best way to deter surprise is through engagement.
  • 25 Sep 2023
    • North Korea
    • Russia

    The historical roots of North Korea’s lucky break with Russia

    Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein
    Kim Jong-un can thank decisions taken by his grandfather decades ago for any weapons exports to Russia that may come about in the future.
  • 15 Sep 2023
    • North Korea
    • Russia

    North Korea undeterred – to Putin’s pleasure

    Gabriela Bernal
    Kim Jong-un sent a message in his summit with Vladimir Putin, not only about military cooperation but also regime survival.
  • 1 Sep 2023
    • China
    • North Korea
    • Russia

    Can North Korea play off Russia against China?

    Khang Vu
    Pyongyang might have designs to take advantage of an increasingly desperate Moscow, but power rests with Beijing.
  • 23 Aug 2023
    • North Korea
    • South Korea

    The curious tales of defectors to North Korea

    Gabriela Bernal
    Why would anyone choose to live in or return to a repressive hermit state? The answers are complex and include regret.
  • 17 Aug 2023
    • China
    • Japan
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    Bridging the divide: the significance of the US-South Korea-Japan trilateral

    Daniel R. DePetris
    The Biden administration sees the upcoming summit as historic – China and North Korea may also, for different reasons.
  • 31 Jul 2023
    • North Korea
    • Russia

    “Solidarity with Russia”: North Korea cements an anti-US bloc

    Gabriela Bernal
    With friends like these, you can stand against the pressure of enemies.
  • 24 Jul 2023
    • China
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • United States

    Forget Washington, Pyongyang’s most important target has always been Beijing

    Khang Vu
    Kim Jong-un’s charm offensive with Donald Trump may have yielded few results. Not so his efforts with Xi Jinping.
  • 20 Jun 2023
    • North Korea

    Build a wall: Kim Jong‑un’s social revolution

    Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein
    Taking its lead from the hermit state’s first leader, North Korea may be heading towards totalitarian rule.
  • 15 Jun 2023
    • China
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • United States

    It’s time for South Korea to refocus on multilateral diplomacy 

    Gabriela Bernal
    A new national security strategy stresses values-based diplomacy, but that can’t be at the expense of talking to China. 
  • 24 May 2023
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • Nuclear Weapons

    North Korea/South Korea: Who’s threatening who?

    Khang Vu
    The prospect of using nuclear weapons to coerce behaviour has limits.
  • 12 May 2023
    • North Korea

    My decade watching the Korean peninsula: the delicacy of peace

    Khang Vu
    Lessons from starting out a career analysing one of the most dangerous flashpoints in global politics.
  • 4 Apr 2023
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • United States

    North Korea keeps building more powerful weapons, with no end in sight

    Gabriela Bernal
    Diplomacy is desperately needed to avoid an irreversible escalation in nuclear capability and the excuse to use it.
  • 24 Mar 2023
    • North Korea

    North Korea: The state versus the people

    Khang Vu
    If the regime is sincere about alleviating the latest food crisis, why ban market sales of foodstuffs?
  • 14 Mar 2023
    • Japan
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • United States

    Japan and South Korea: a logical but uneasy alignment

    Robert E Kelly
    Is a compensation deal to right colonial-era wrongs part of a strategic shift towards rapprochement?
  • 2 Mar 2023
    • North Korea

    North Korea remains a hermit even as food runs short

    Gabriela Bernal
    With a population cut off behind a border, Kim Jong-un sees ideology as the answer to warnings about empty plates.
  • 14 Feb 2023
    • North Korea
    • South Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Why North Korea is denying its involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine

    Khang Vu
    Pyongyang appears to be a reluctant participant in Putin’s brutal offensive in Eastern Europe.
  • 9 Feb 2023
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • China
    • India
    • Laos
    • North Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Defence & Security
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • United Nations

    With caution and tact: How Asian countries voted on Ukraine at the UN 

    Stéphanie Fillion
    A resolution forces nations to show their hand. After Russia’s invasion, consistency has not been to everyone’s liking.
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