Archives North and South Korea - Page 7 of 9 - New Eastern Outlook

The military and political section of Kim Jong-un’s keynote speech began by summing up the current situation. “Far from improving, the security situation of our state has continued to deteriorate day by day, and today it is facing a more serious risk of war than any other region in the world.” Therefore “preparations for the great event have become an unfortunate reality.” Kim also notes the importance of paying attention to the situation in the Middle East. “The deputies present at this session should not consider the horrors…

South Korean politics has many individuals with the surname Lee. This includes Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Lee Jun-seok, a former conservative leader who began his independent career at age 38, and Lee Nak-yon, who is on his way to become the leader of a breakaway faction. The 71-year-old former DPK chairman, a four-term lawmaker, served as prime minister from 2017 to 2020 during the Moon Jae-in administration. As both premier and party leader, Lee demonstrated his competence as an administrator…

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…