N. Korea’s tactical drill demonstrations of different arms A North Korean tank fires a shot during tactical drill demonstrations of different arms under the training course of the conference of training officers at a boot camp of the North Korean army’s Capital City Defence Corps on May 13, 2025, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency the next day. The North’s leader Kim Jong-un watched the drill demonstrations, stressing that the most “crucial” task for the North’s armed forces is to make full preparations for war. (Yonhap)
The differences in North Korea policies is really not surprising. Lee Jae-myung just wants to continue the liberal policy of paying off Kim Jong-un for little to nothing in return and Kim Moon-soo is calling to increase military readiness against North Korea:
South Korea’s two leading presidential candidates are presenting sharply contrasting approaches to North Korea — one emphasizes diplomacy and dialogue, while the other advocates for a more robust deterrence strategy, including the possible redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea. These weapons were withdrawn in late 1991 under U.S. President George H. W. Bush’s nuclear reduction initiatives.
While North Korea policy has not traditionally played a decisive role in presidential elections, lingering uncertainty over how U.S. President Donald Trump might engage with Pyongyang has raised the stakes for the next South Korean government’s security strategy.
You can read more at the link, but really the only thing new is Kim Moon-soo advocating for the return of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to North Korea. I would be surprised to see that happen. Another thing he is advocating for is to amend an agreement with the U.S. to allow the ROK to reprocess plutonium and enrich uranium to speed up nuclear weapons development if they needed. I think the ROK might have more success with this idea.
Ultimately it will be up to the Korean voters to decide if they want to use their tax dollars to support a robust defense focused foreign policy towards North Korea or send their tax dollars to pay off Kim Jong-un for little to nothing in return.
The war on the fish in the East Sea continues by the North Koreans:
North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, in what could be a performance test aimed at exporting arms to Russia.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch, involving various types of multiple short-range ballistic missiles, from the North’s eastern coastal city of Wonsan between 8:10 a.m. and 9:20 a.m.
The North’s missile flew up to 800 kilometers before splashing into the East Sea, it said. The latest test is also believed to have involved the North’s KN-25 super-large 600-millimeter multiple rocket launcher and the KN-23, which is similar to Russia’s Iskander short-range ballistic missiles.
What exactly did this military agreement achieve that makes it worth restoring?:
South Korea’s leading presidential candidate has pledged to restore a military deconfliction agreement with the North if elected, aiming to reduce rising tension on the Korean Peninsula. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, said the Comprehensive Military Agreement signed on Sept. 19, 2018, should be reinstated. The deal was effectively scrapped by both countries last year. “We urgently need to ease military tensions and restore trust between the two Koreas,” he said in a recent news release.
I wonder if Kim Jong-un thinks he may be able to export some of these tanks to Russia if the war with Ukraine keeps dragging on?:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected a tank factory and expressed satisfaction over the upgraded structural design of indigenous tanks, while emphasizing the need to modernize the military with advanced tanks, the North’s state media reported Sunday.
Kim inspected the factory’s production status, modernization and progress in implementing research tasks related to core tank technology, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
It did not disclose the name or location of the factory or the date of his visit, describing it only as an “important” tank factory.
“To replace the armoured weapons of the last century in our army with latest tanks and armoured vehicles is the most important issue in the building of armed forces and modernization of the army,” the KCNA quoted Kim as saying during the field guidance.
N. Korea’s 1st firing test of new warship’s weapons systems North Korea conducts its first firing tests of key weapons systems for North Korea’s new 5,000-ton multipurpose destroyer named the Choe Hyon, with its leader Kim Jong-un in attendance, in this undated photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency on April 30, 2025. A test-firing of the destroyer’s supersonic strategic cruise missiles and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as automatic guns, came on April 28, followed by a firing test of ship-to-ship tactical guided weapons, the ship’s naval gun and electronic jamming guns the next day. (Yonhap)
If these POWs do in fact defect to South Korea their families back in North Korea will likely face punishment by being sent to labor camps:
The government said Seoul has not changed its position regarding accepting to the nation, North Korean soldiers held captive by the Ukrainian military in the Russia-Ukraine war should they wish to defect to South Korea.
An official at Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the North Korean captives are considered prisoners of war, regardless of Pyongyang’s acknowledgement of their deployment.
The official added that in accordance with the 1949 Geneva Conventions, they must not be repatriated against their will to their home country, where they could face persecution.
I am not sure what Seoul gets out of forcibly coming out against North Korea’s involvement in the Russian war against Ukraine because we all know the UN will do nothing about it:
South Korea has condemned Pyongyang’s first public admission that its troops fought alongside Russian forces against Ukraine, calling the move a violation of international law. “North Korea taking part in the war against Ukraine is certainly an illegal act that violates the United Nations charter and U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Jeon Ha Gyu, spokesman for the South’s Ministry of National Defense, said at a news briefing Monday.
“Admitting [that it engaged] in the war is admission of a criminal act,” he added. “Our military and the international community strongly condemn this inhumane, illegal act.” (….)
Another South Korean official condemned the loss of North Korean lives in the conflict. “North Korea can never cover the fact that deploying troops is an illegal act that violates international law, and is inhumane, unethical behavior that sacrificed young North Koreans for the governments’ sake,” Ministry of Unification spokesman Koo Byongsam said at a separate briefing. Koo called on Pyongyang to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine.
You can read more at the link, but someone needs to tell Minister Koo that the North Korean troops are not in Ukraine, they have been used to combat Ukrainian troops that invaded into the Russian Kursk region.
This is the first time that Russia has admitted that North Korean troops have been aiding them in their war against Ukraine:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the deployment of troops to support its war with Ukraine, pledging that their bilateral friendship, forged on battlefields, will continue to grow in all areas, the Kremlin said Monday.
Putin conveyed his gratitude to Kim for the “active role” played by North Korean soldiers in the fight against Ukraine, his statement updated on the website of his office said, just hours after Pyongyang officially confirmed its troop deployment to Russia.
He praised the solidarity, justice and genuine camaraderie North Korean soldiers had shown, adding that “We highly appreciate this and are sincerely grateful, personally to the Chairman of State Affairs, Comrade Kim Jong-un, as well as the entire leadership and the people” of 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.
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.
