Digest of Inter-Korean Tensions at the Turn of 2024
The author barely completed one digest, when events on the peninsula rapidly developed. The New Year vacations were not much different from work in terms of preparing materials for the New Eastern Outlook. On December 17, mere thirty minutes after launching a short-range missile towards the Sea of Japan, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a statement from the military department. The statement claimed that the results of the second meeting of the South Korea-US Nuclear Security Consultative Group constituted an open declaration of nuclear confrontation…
Results of the visit of the DPRK Foreign Minister to the Russian Federation
The development of relations between the Russian Federation and the DPRK continues to deepen after the Chairman of State Affairs, Comrade Kim Jong-un, paid a visit to Russia. A mirror response to the visit to Pyongyang by the Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was the visit of North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui to Moscow on January 14-18, 2024, during which she was received by the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin…
Launch of the Hwasong-18 solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile, 18 December 2023
As reported by the KCNA, the launch was in response to the second meeting of the “nuclear consultative group” which proposed a “large-scale joint exercise to prepare a ‘nuclear counterstrike’ against our Republic.” As we previously reported, at the event, the allies agreed on a plan to include nuclear operation scenarios in the 2024 military exercises, including the Ulchi Freedom Shield summer exercise. Kim Jong-un, his daughter and commanders from the DPRK’s General Department of Missile Engineering attended the drill: at 8:24 a.m…
Launch of a Satellite by North Korea Causes a New Turn in Escalating Tensions Part 5: It is Not Only About a South Korean Satellite
The final text in the series on the North Korean satellite launch will focus on the military and political response of “the southern side”, which had several aspects. The first aspect is the strengthening of the US strategic forces. An aircraft carrier group including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and the Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine Santa Fe (SSN-763) arrived in Busan before the launch and visited the Navy base on the Jeju-do island after it. It is alleged, that on October 23, in response to such actions, North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic…
The North Korean satellite has taken off, the spiral of aggravation has begun! About the launch itself
The author finished the text “waiting for the satellite” very timely, because four hours after the article was submitted to the editorial office, the North Korean missile took off, after which what was expected happened as predicted. In this text we will talk about the launch itself and its technical assessments, and in the next text we will talk about the international reaction and the expected cancellation of the inter-Korean military agreement. As reported by the KCNA, at 22 hours 42 minutes and 28 seconds on 21 November 2023, the DPRK’s State Aerospace Engineering Directorate…
Local government elections in DPRK
The internal politics of the DPRK is a rather closed thing, and quite often we draw conclusions about the processes taking place there and the state of affairs in the administrative system from indirect signs. For example, watching Kim Jong-un during negotiations with Putin or Shoigu, one can see that he turns to the interpreter on purpose and speaks louder and clearer so that the interpreter can better understand his thoughts and convey them to his interlocutor. At the same time, the standard cultural code, which is very noticeable in the Republic of Korea, says that a high-ranking Korean…
North Korea launches a satellite, causing an escalation in tensions Part Two: Reactions by South Korea and the international community to the DPRK’s successful launch of a satellite
On December 1, 2023, the KCNA reported that the DPRK had launched its first military reconnaissance satellite, Malligyong-1, into low Earth orbit, and that the adjustment procedure had been completed. And on December 2, the Satellite Operations Office which will act as an autonomous military intelligence agency, began to perform its tasks. The information received by the new Office will be reported to the relevant executive department of the Central Military…
Is the DPRK opening up to the world?
All walls fall eventually, and with the coronavirus decline, it also seems that the days of “self-isolation by the whole country” are coming to an end. Remember that North Korea implemented “emergency anti-epidemic measures” in May 2022 amid the “fever epidemic” and quarantined people at the border starting in early 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. North Korea’s leader declared victory against the virus in August 2022, following which rail freight trade resumed. According to Korean specialist and journalist Oleg Kiryanov, the DPRK’s coming discovery…
North Korean Satellite: Awaiting Its Third Attempt
Discussions that the DPRK’s attempt to launch a satellite will entail the rupture of the inter-Korean military agreement impel the author to remind the audience how the preparation process for this launch is going on. On May 31, North Korea launched its first military spy satellite, Malligyong-1, mounted on a new-type carrier rocket, Chollima-1. According to North Korean media, the rocket crashed into the Yellow Sea after the second stage engine malfunctioned. In July 2023, North Korean satellite debris was retrieved from the Yellow Sea, after which South Korean experts declared that…
What does it imply that the DPRK has closed several of its embassies?
Several embassies and consulates were closed by North Korea in late October and early November of 2023. On October 23, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the DPRK Chon Dong-hak “paid a farewell visit” to Yoweri Kaguta Museven, President of the Republic of Uganda, and on October 27, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Jo Pyong Chol of the DPRK paid a similar farewell visit to President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco of the Republic of Angola. North Korea reportedly closed its embassy in Spain on November 1…
Regarding the Russian Foreign Minister’s visit to the DPRK
On October 18–19, 2023, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a ceremonial visit to Pyongyang to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the DPRK. Following a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on September 13, the visit was officially announced to the Russian Foreign Minister on October 16, who accepted the invitation to visit the country…
Ninth Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK
On September 26-27, the ninth session of the 14th convocation of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) was held at the Mansudae Palace of Congresses. As part of anti-Pyongyang propaganda, every news item about this event in the Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea) central media included the passage that “the Supreme People’s Assembly is the supreme organ of state power in accordance with the North’s constitution, but in reality it only stamps the decisions of the ruling Worker’s Party of Korea (WPK)”…