Russia and North Korea on Wednesday signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty that included both countries pledging to assist each other if attacked, a move condemned by South Korea, which said it is now reconsidering its policy of providing Ukraine with only nonlethal equipment.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, three Republic of Korea Navy’s (ROKN) six P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft...
The following is the Jan. 23, 2023 Congressional Research Service In Focus report, North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons and Missile Programs.
From the report
Overview
North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions and high-level diplomatic efforts. Recent ballistic missile tests and military parades suggest that North Korea is continuing to build a nuclear warfighting capability designed to evade regional ballistic missile defenses. Such...
The following is the Dec. 12, 2022, Congression Research Service report, U.S.-North Korea Relations.
From the report
North Korea’s advances in nuclear weapons and missile capabilities since 2016 under its leader Kim Jong-un have catapulted Pyongyang from a threat to U.S. interests in East Asia to a potential direct threat to the U.S. homeland. U.S. policy on North Korea (officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK) has focused primarily on the DPRK’s nuclear weapon and...
https://news.usni.org/2022/12/13/report-to-congress-on-u-s-north-korea-relations
The following is the Sept. 15, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, North Korea: September 2022 Update.
From the reprort
For more than 30 years, 16 Congresses and 6 presidential administrations have struggled with North Korea’s (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, or DPRK) advancing nuclear weapons and missile programs, human rights abuses, sponsorship of cyber-attacks and cyber-crime, and threats to U.S. regional allies. As Members of Congress seek to shape and...
Cmdr. Nick Cunningham, commanding officer of the ‘Saberhawks’ of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 77 flies over USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) in an MH-60R Sea Hawk during a change of command ceremony in the Philippine Sea on Aug. 1, 2022. US Navy Photo
The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group will arrive in South Korea on Friday in preparation for large-scale joint naval exercises with Seoul amid concerns mount over North Korea’s likely resumption of nuclear weapons testing, according to...
Kim Jong Un in front of a the North Korea intercontinental ballistic missile. KCNA Photo
The United States needs to deploy its Next Generation Interceptor by 2028 or sooner to keep pace with North Korea’s accelerating ballistic missile program, most recently demonstrated in Pyongyang’s successful test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday, Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
While saying he was “comfortable with where we are today based on...
A North Korean Hwasong-14 missile test in 2017. KCNA Photo
North Korea’s goal in dealing with the U.S. is to have Washington tolerate Pyongyang possessing nuclear weapons, a leading expert on international security said Monday.
Kim Jong Un has “found this very sweet spot,” regarding missile testing without provoking the United States, while also sending out peace feelers to South Korea, Mi Sue Terry, director for Korean history and public policy at the Wilson Center, said at a day-long forum at...
Kim Jong Un speaking. KCNA Photo
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, after boasting Pyongyang intended to remain a nuclear power, hasn’t completely shut the door on diplomacy with Washington, a panel of security experts said Wednesday.
Retired Army Gen. Vincent Brooks, the former U.S. commander in Korea, said Kim’s “nuclear arsenal is not an end to itself, but a lever” to be used for regime survival in a very broad sense.
During a Hudson Institute online forum today, he asked rhetorically, “what’s...
https://news.usni.org/2021/03/24/panel-north-korea-positioning-itself-to-play-nuclear-blackmail
Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Forces Korea commander, US Forces Korea at Osan Air Base, ROK on June 12, 2020. US Air Force Photo
America’s top general in Korea said Monday that U.S. forces are still conducting theater-level training exercises.
Army Gen. Robert Abrams said American forces “do so without talking about it,” arguing there “is really no need for us to advertise it.”
Speaking at an ICAS event on Monday, Abrams said “we have adjusted in some cases” the exercises’ size and scale...
Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Forces Korea commander, US Forces Korea at Osan Air Base, ROK on June 12, 2020. US Air Force Photo
North Korea is not showing any signs of lashing out against South Korea or Japan or launching a deliberate provocation as the American presidential election nears, the senior commander on the peninsula said Thursday.
Army Gen. Robert Abrams, speaking in a Center for Strategic and International Studies online forum, said “we’re not seeing any sign of regime...