DPRK / North Korea
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Global Commons
South Korea launches second reconnaissance satellite amid tensions with North Korea
The Associated Press South Korea recently launched its second reconnaissance satellite, days after North Korea reaffirmed its plan to launch multiple spy satellites in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the reconnaissance satellite, which launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, entered orbit and communicated with an overseas ground station. With the early April…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Allies, Partners resolute over North Korea WMD sanctions, condemn Russia’s veto
FORUM Staff Russia’s latest attempt to weaken monitoring of United Nations sanctions of North Korea over its illegal nuclear weapons program will have negligible impact, according to security experts. In late March 2024, Moscow vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have extended the mandate for a panel of experts (POE) to monitor the sanctions. The veto has instead…
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Conflicts - Tensions
PRC greatest threat to Free and Open Indo-Pacific, USINDOPACOM Commander says
FORUM Staff United States Navy Adm. John Aquilino, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), recently delivered an imperative message to the U.S. Congress: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) will be ready to invade Taiwan in three years. Unprecedented actions by the increasingly connected regimes in the PRC, Russia and North Korea are challenging international norms and advancing authoritarianism,…
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Northeast Asia
North Korea, PRC partnership built on shaky ground
FORUM Staff Regardless of the North Korea-People’s Republic of China (PRC) declaration that 2024 will be a year of friendship between the nations, Pyongyang’s erratic behavior, banned nuclear and missile programs, and growing ties with Russia cast a shadow over North Korea’s relationship with Beijing. Analysts say Moscow and Pyongyang likely acted without the PRC’s input in trading North Korean…
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Across The Region
Indo-Pacific Partners
National security advisors for Japan, the Philippines and the United States held their first joint talks in June 2023 and agreed to strengthen defense cooperation, as Indo-Pacific partners reinforce their alliances to address growing tensions over North Korea, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The three officials discussed the “turbulent regional security environment and…
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Northeast Asia
U.N. report: North Korea financing weapons program with cybercrime
United States Strategic Command United Nations investigators say North Korea has stolen billions of dollars in cyberattacks to fund the regime’s weapons of mass destruction. The U.N. found 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023, valued at about $3 billion, The Associated Press (AP) reported in February 2024. Hacking groups reporting to Pyongyang’s primary foreign intelligence organization continue…
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Northeast Asia
U.S. SOCKOR hosts multinational special operations forum
Maj. Christopher J. Mesnard/U.S. Air Force A multinational array of special operations leaders converged on United States Army Garrison Humphreys, near Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in late February 2024 for a U.S. Special Operations Command Korea (SOCKOR)-hosted Component Commander’s Special Operations Forces forum. Senior special operations personnel from Japan, South Korea, the U.S., United Nations Command member states and the Indo-Pacific…
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Conflicts - Tensions
North Koreans starve amid regime’s military spending, arms deal with Russia
FORUM Staff North Korea’s rural economy is in “a terrible situation,” the isolated nation’s dictator said in late January 2024, admitting a “failure to satisfactorily provide the people in local areas with basic living necessities including condiments, foodstuff and consumption goods,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported. Days after Kim Jong Un’s admission, North Korean diplomats met in Pyongyang…
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Global Commons
Allies and Partners invest in, collaborate on missile defense systems
FORUM Staff Expanding nuclear and nonnuclear missile arsenals across the Indo-Pacific contribute to security dilemmas throughout the region. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) relies on growing capabilities — including intercontinental and inter-regional ballistic missiles along with medium- and short-range ballistic weapons — to assert expansive sovereignty claims. Meanwhile, a provocative North Korea persists with its United Nations-banned weapons programs,…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Survey of escapees indicates worsening quality of life in North Korea
Radio Free Asia A survey of more than 6,300 North Korean escapees paints a bleak picture of life in the isolated country: Food has grown scarcer amid a weakening economy and rampant corruption. Women play a more elevated role in families and society — not because of a heightened sense of equality but out of economic necessity, interviewees said. The…
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