Category: North Korea

It sounds like the State Department may finally be recognizing reality when dealing with North Korea now:

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described North Korea as a “nuclear-armed” country in an apparent recognition of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons capabilities, despite the Trump administration’s stated commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of the North.

Rubio used the expression in a podcast interview released Wednesday, as he pointed to a series of security challenges facing the United States, including those from China, Russia and Iran.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the next reality the State Department needs to realize is that the Kim regime will never completely give up their nuclear weapons. Once the State Department completely recognizes reality when dealing with North Korea then maybe some kind of deal could be struck.

North Korea is the last country that should be critical of the U.S. selling weapons when they have been selling Russia weapons and even Soldiers to fight in the war in Ukraine:

North Korea on Sunday denounced U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent easing of domestic weapons export regulations, calling it a move aimed to “expand wars.”

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued the criticism, citing Trump’s April 9 executive order that mandates a review of rules governing U.S. military equipment exports, aimed at facilitating easier overseas sales of defense products.

“For the United States, arms sale is not only merely a money-making space to meet monetary desire but also a major means of supporting the realization of aggressive foreign policy, the hegemony-seeking one,” the KCNA claimed.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It makes sense that North Korea would be looking to upgrade their air defenses considering the strategic bombing threat they face if conflict was to happen on the peninsula:

The chief of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command reportedly said North Korea provided ballistic missiles and artillery shells to support Russia’s war in Ukraine and will receive advanced air defense equipment in return. 

According to Ukraine’s daily Kyiv Post on Monday, Adm. Samuel Paparo conveyed the information during a briefing for the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. 

Paparo reportedly said North Korea has sent hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to support Russia’s war and that in return, it will receive advanced air defense equipment, including surface-to-air missile systems and other technology.

KBS World

You can read more at the link.

It would be foolish of the North Koreans to not test the effectiveness of their weapon systems in Ukraine so this should not be a surprise to anyone:

North Korea is using its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to test weapons it could deploy against the South in a future conflict, Ukraine’s ambassador to Seoul said in a news report Sunday. Ukraine and South Korea share a common adversary, Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko said in written remarks published by Yonhap News. South Korea “should not forget that Pyongyang also uses Ukrainian soil as a testing ground for its weaponry, which could be used in future possible standoff,” Ponomarenko said. Seoul “has no reason to hesitate in the development of full-scale military-technical cooperation” with Kyiv, he said. “It’s a matter of interest for both Kyiv and Seoul,” he added.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Trump is signaling at some point there will be a reach out to the Kim regime. However, with the administration tied down trying to negotiate a peace between Ukraine and Russia, the North Korea issue will likely remain on the back burner:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed his desire to reestablish the relationship that he had with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his first term, boasting that he “got along great” with the reclusive leader and still has a “great” relationship with him.

During a press availability, Trump made the remarks, describing the North Korean leader as a “nuclear power” with “a lot of nuclear weapons,” as his administration is pursuing the goal of the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea.

“Well, I would,” Trump said, responding to a reporter’s question of whether he has a plan to reestablish the relationship he had under his first presidential mandate.

“I had a great relationship with Kim Jong-un (of) North Korea. If I wasn’t elected, if Hillary got in, you would have had a nuclear war with North Korea,” he added, as he sat next to North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House for talks.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I think Trump is exagerating that there would have been a nuclear war if Hillary was elected. She more than likely would have continued the Obama era policy of strategic patience which was basically doing nothing with North Korea.

I give Trump credit for doing something different in regards to North Korea during his first term though it didn’t work. His outreach did reduce tensions for two years, but still did not slow down North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and advanced missile systems to deliver them.

My assessment is that this disclosure of a nuclear powered submarine is more for PR purposes than any actual near term military benefits. This technology is very difficult to master and they are likely many years from having a working prototype. However, like with their nuclear program if nothing is done to reign their program in over a 10-15 year period, they will likely eventually have a working nuclear powered submarine:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, third from right, smiles during his visit to a shipyard to inspect nuclear submarine construction in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, Saturday. Yonhap

North Korea has publicly unveiled the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, a weapons system that could pose a serious security threat to South Korea and allies if successfully developed, due to its ability to operate submerged for months.

On Saturday, Pyongyang’s state-run media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), released photos of leader Kim Jong-un inspecting shipyards focused on constructing warships, including “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine.”

“Kim stressed the need to make overwhelmingly powerful warships to contain hostile forces’ habitual gunboat diplomacy,” the KCNA reported without disclosing the exact location of the shipyards.

It was the first time that North Korea disclosed the ship’s appearance.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This was very predictable that North Korea would fire missiles in response to the start of the US-ROK combined exercise:

 North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea on Monday, South Korea’s military said, as Seoul and Washington launched their annual military drills, marking the North’s first known ballistic missile test since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from an area near the western county of Hwangju in North Hwanghae Province at around 1:50 p.m., noting that it may have involved close-range ballistic missiles (CRBMs).

CRBMs refer to ballistic missiles that have a relatively short range of less than 300 kilometers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Whatever family this North Korean Soldier has are definitely in labor camps now with him providing intelligence information to the ROK:

A North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine said that the North has military training camps that feature mockups of facilities and buildings in Seoul, Busan and Jeju Island, according to a South Korean lawmaker who recently met the soldier on Thursday. 

Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the ruling People Power Party made the remarks in an interview with SBS radio, as he released an audio clip of the North Korean soldier, identified only by his surname Ri. Ri is one of two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces in January during combat against Kyiv in Russia’s Kursk region.

“When you go to the place where we train, called the Armed Forces Training Ground, it is filled with buildings modeled after the terrain of Seoul’s Jongno District, as well as Busan, Daegu, Jeonju, and Jeju Island,” Ri said in the audio recording. 

The training site, apparently aimed at simulating raids on South Korea, is located in Koksan County in North Hwanghae Province in North Korea, Ri said. 

Although it has been known that North Korea has built training sites resembling the former presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae for military exercises in the past, Yu said, “The existence of such a facility specifically in Koksan was largely unknown.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this really shouldn’t be surprising that North Korea would have these mock ups. I think the only thing surprising is a mock up of Jeju island. That would be logistically very challenging for the North Koreans to pull off any kind of operation there, but obviously they are training for it.

With North Korea re-opened to Western tourists, applications are now being accepted for the Pyongyang Marathon on 6 April 2025, as per @KoryoTours.

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) March 3, 2025