Episode 129: Updating How We Think About Korean Peninsula Security

For decades, Korean Peninsula security discussions have been framed by North-South relations and nuclear proliferation considerations. But North Korea has dropped the goal of unification and refuses to discuss denuclearisation, while both Koreas have become more prominent players in security dynamics far beyond North-East Asia. This prominence ranges from North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine to South Korea's growing role as an arms supplier to Europe. This episode asks what should replace the old framing.

The episode explores:

• North Korea's current foreign and security policy priorities.
• Why North Korea is fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine, and the consequences.
• How South Korea is responding to the North's more expansive activity.
• The North-South relationship now that unification is off the table.
• The impact on the military balance in North-East Asia and the US alliance system.
• What framework should replace unification and denuclearisation.

Sanghun Seok is a former South Korean career diplomat, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, and a Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI.

Dr Edward Howell is a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and the Pharos Foundation, specialising in North and South Korea. His new book, A New Axis of Upheaval: North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, is released in December 2026.