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North Korea leader Kim Jong Un waves from his armoured train in Pyongyang as he leaves for Russia on September 10. KCNA/AP

When North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia’s Far East region on Tuesday in his grandfather’s armored green train on his way to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, he helped underscore two important facts about Putin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.

First, Putin has turned what was once a mighty and respected army — and country — into one that is reduced to seeking help from an impoverished state that can hardly feed its own people. It’s a humiliating exercise for a diminished Putin, who vaingloriously compares himself to the 18th century Czar Peter the Great, and not a great look for a deeply tarnished Russia.…  Seguir leyendo »

Official image released by North Korea state media on Friday Jan 28, 2022 shows leader Kim Jong Un inspects a missile munitions factory producing a major weapon system at an undisclosed location in North Korea. EyePress News / EyePress via AFP

At the turn of 2022, Pyongyang dramatically increased the pace of its missile testing, raising fears of renewed North Korean brinksmanship after an extended period of relative calm. That calm was a function, first, of a diplomatic process with the United States that played out during the last three years of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and, secondly, of the COVID-19 pandemic. But January saw seven separate testing events, more than during any single calendar month on record. On 5 and again on 11 January, Pyongyang tested what it claimed were hypersonic weapons. It then tested a pair of mobile short-range ballistic missiles – derived from Soviet technology acquired long ago –from a train on 14 January and two “tactical guided missiles” on 17 January.…  Seguir leyendo »

File image of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the Defense Development Exhibition on Monday Oct 11, 2021. EyePress News / EyePress via AFP

In the autumn months, the two Koreas put on something of a military show for the world. As they flexed their muscles – testing missiles and displaying new capabilities – commentators speculated about an accelerating arms race and wondered whether the peninsula might be headed for a crisis moment after several quiet years. Since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged taunts in 2017, including Trump’s famous threat to rain down “fire and fury” if Kim crossed his red lines, the peninsula has been relatively calm. But while the possibility of a sudden escalation in tensions can never be fully dismissed, particularly given North Korea’s penchant for wilfully unpredictable behaviour, the autumn’s activity does not necessarily augur a spike in near-term instability.…  Seguir leyendo »

C’est vrai qu’on peut s’étonner des moyens financiers de Pyongyang qui construit missiles et futures bombes à la chaîne. C’est que la Corée du Nord envoie ses citoyens travailler dans d’autres pays pour des salaires de misère dont elle empoche le 80 %… En Pologne par exemple ou dans des pays asiatiques ou africains comme instructeurs militaires. Ses diplomates en Afrique, notamment au Mozambique, sont liés au trafic de cornes de rhinocéros et de défenses d’éléphants pour se payer leurs salaires !  Le kilo de corne de rhinocéros vaut 60 000 dollars ; une défense d’éléphants entre 6 à 7000 dollars.…  Seguir leyendo »

Since becoming President, Donald Trump has, at times, looked like a wrecking ball to the international order.

But when it comes to North Korea, he may be forced to operate within the narrow constraints of his predecessors.

President Obama famously decided that the best way of dealing with the autocracy was with a policy of "strategic patience". In practice, this meant strengthening sanctions and waiting for North Korea to decide itself that halting its nuclear program would be prudent.

Some members of the President's Republican Party have previously argued for a more forceful response to North Korean aggression.

Others have advocated the drawing of a red line, telling North Korea explicitly that any intercontinental ballistic missile would be blown up on the launch pad.…  Seguir leyendo »

George W. Bush invaded Iraq to remove its – ultimately nonexistent – weapons of mass destruction. Barack Obama used cyber weaponry and sanctions to deter Iran from building its own atomic bomb. Now Donald Trump faces North Korea, but stopping its nuclear and missile program may prove impossible, creating what may be his first and perhaps defining international crisis.

Trump has been left to confront North Korea’s nuclear activities because his predecessors failed to manage them. The regime in Pyongyang, meanwhile, continues to build ever more dangerous – and hard-to-destroy or intercept – weapons systems.

North Korea has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the days of Harry S.…  Seguir leyendo »

North Korea's new supreme leader Kim Jong Un conducted two missile tests last year. The first, in April, failed. The second, in December, was by all accounts a huge success. But it was not just a test of North Korea's ability to put an object into space. Kim's second test was also the first test of the new Chinese leadership.

To date, it would appear that Chairman Xi Jingping has passed Kim's test with flying colors ... at least in North Korea's eyes. The rest of us are not too sure.

Some, myself included, have argued that we should not have been so quick to judge Kim and his policies by the April 2012 rocket launch or the Feb.…  Seguir leyendo »