North Korea

A rare visit by a North Korean official to Cambodia raises the faint prospect of more engagement with Southeast Asia. But ties with Phnom Penh are complicated.

Asia is bound to be a focus for Leon Panetta as US defence secretary. With China’s rise, India and Pakistan squabbling and a belligerent North Korea, there’s plenty to do.

The hundreds of North Koreans escaping into China each year are facing ever tougher border controls. Those caught face imprisonment and torture.

With US attention focused on the Arab World and Pakistan, will Kim Jong-il spring another attention seeking nuclear surprise?

North Korea and Pakistan have many differences. But they also share some key similarities—not least a history of taking the US for a ride.

Pyongyang isn’t interested in genuine talks, Richard Bush tells The Diplomat. Kim Jong-il is likely just stalling while the country perfects a nuclear weapon.

Most eyes may now be on the nuclear crisis in Japan. But North Korean defiance and Iran’s stalling remain the IAEA’s big headaches.

Kim Jong-il’s regime has been censoring reports of unrest in the Arab world. It’s a sign of how worried his regime is about its survival.

Frozen out of talks and wanting attention, the Kim regime made a calculated decision to up the ante in 2010, Weston Konishi tells The Diplomat.

North Korea’s development of a walled garden ‘app’ is only the most extreme example of what governments may do to restrict web access.

It's time for China to stop enabling North Korea's bad behaviour. It's current approach threatens regional stability.

Inter-Korean defence talks take place next month. But until there’s a leadership change in Pyongyang, don’t expect any breakthroughs.