Kim Jong-un

Insights from Soo Kim.

Pyongyang’s increased hostility and Seoul’s unyielding posture have set the stage for 2024 to be a dangerous year.

With a decisive change in the North’s policy toward the South, the Korean Peninsula has now devolved from a state of armistice to one where conflict could loom at any moment.

Underneath the belligerence, the reframing by Pyongyang actually opens an opportunity, if Seoul can seize it.

The North Korean diplomat-turned-South Korean lawmaker discusses Pyongyang’s stepped-up artillery shelling and its foreign policy strategy.

Much attention is focused on whether Kim Ju Ae will succeed her father, but North Korean officials have other explanations for her increased visibility.

Expect North Korea to continue to advance military ties with Russia, push forward key advanced weapons programs (like nuclear subs), and generally shun diplomacy with the U.S. and South Korea.

There are shifting dynamics in North Korea’s diplomatic strategy, particularly concerning its relationships with the U.S. and Russia. 

Kim Jong Un is in Russia, his first foreign destination since the pandemic started. What will be on the agenda when he meets with Putin?

The trip could be like his 2019 journey: 20 hours on his armored train.

Kim Jong Un reportedly observed the launch of strategic cruise missiles from a patrol vessel.

Kim Jong Un toured factories producing tactical missiles, mobile launch platforms, armored vehicles, and artillery shells, ordering them to “drastically boost” production capacity.