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North Korea

Man in a fur hat speaks at a podium with microphones, North Korean flag in the background.

That Other Nuclear Nightmare: North Korea Sounds New Alarms

DEEP DIVE – As the U.S. grapples with the still-unsolved problem of Iran’s nuclear program, another American adversary is expanding its nuclear [...] More

The Latest

The Two-Front Nuclear Challenge: Iran, North Korea, and a New Era of U.S. Deterrence

The Two-Front Nuclear Challenge: Iran, North Korea, and a New Era of U.S. Deterrence

DEEP DIVE — While Washington is focused on Iran’s accelerating uranium-enrichment program and increasingly aggressive regional posture, an equally [...] More

Trump’s Next Test: Kim Jong Un’s Bid for Legitimacy and a Nuclear Normalization Deal

EXPERT OPINION — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is ready to do business with President Donald Trump. Over the past few years, Mr. Kim has burnished [...] More

Talking to Kim Jong Un Could Help Freeze His Nuclear Ambitions

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un publicly announced that he’s prepared to meet with President Donald Trump: “If the US drops its hollow obsession with [...] More

Ensuring Stability in the Indo-Pacific Region and Beyond

The recent summit of President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung further solidified a special relationship. It’s a relationship [...] More

Allies in a Dangerous Neighborhood: Why the Trump-Lee Summit Matters

OPINION / EXPERT PERSPECTIVE -- In December 1952, President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower visited South Korea for a first-time presidential summit as [...] More

How U.S. Dialogue Can Break the North Korea-Russia Alliance

It’s time to resume talks with North Korea. During the past five years, when we didn’t talk to North Korea, they built more nuclear weapons and [...] More

Welcome to the Gray Zone and the Future of Great Power Competition

This is part one of a 3-part series by Cipher Brief Expert and former Assistant Director of CIA for South and Central Asia Dave Pitts, who also [...] More

Memo to the 47th President: There’s a Way Forward on North Korea 

MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT — To the President-elect: North Korea spent almost thirty years trying to normalize relations with the U.S., knowing it would [...] More

The Danger of War on the Korean Peninsula

North Korea’s enhanced allied relationship with Russia, and leader Kim Jong Un’s decision to send troops to aid Russia in its war of aggression in [...] More

North Korean Deployment Sparks Fears of Escalation – Even ‘World War’ – in Ukraine

DEEP DIVE — North Korea’s deployment of thousands of troops to Russia – presumably for use in the war against Ukraine – has stunned policymakers and [...] More

The Threat from North Korea 

North Korea is now aligned unmistakably with a revanchist Russian Federation, providing artillery shells, ballistic missiles and now troops on the [...] More

U.S. Adversaries Create a Web of Threats

EXPERT Q&A — Closer collaboration between China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea - increasingly referred to as the ‘Axis of Authoritarians’ - requires [...] More