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North Korea remains a pressing security challenge for the United States. President Donald Trump recently revealed that the Hermit Kingdom has stockpiled 57 nuclear warheads in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. It continues to advance its large missile arsenal and has been a primary proliferator of missile technology to Iran. Without North Korea, the Iranian regime would likely not have been able to manufacture missiles—an important factor in America’s decision to initiate Operation Epic Fury. North Korea remains politically aligned with the Islamic Republic, but its ongoing material support is indirect. It provides troops and weapons to assist Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine, helping Moscow sustain a war effort that has also included intelligence and targeting assistance to Iran in its fight against the US and Israel. The US–Republic of Korea alliance remains critical to deterring North Korean aggression. Maintaining and improving cooperation with Seoul is therefore in America’s interest.
“The president’s clearly frustrated that South Korea is unwilling to help get the Strait of Hormuz open and to counter the Iranians. But, of course, the North Koreans have been the ones who have been providing missile capabilities, component parts to the Iranians, and really, they’ve done that since the 1980s. These military drills that the president is worried about, they’re there to help the United States with South Korea to become better integrated to make sure that we increase our readiness. So, they’re not there to be provocative; they’re there to deter North Korea. . . . The United States needs to go fast on building certain military capabilities, and we do not yet have the manufacturing here at home to do that. But we do collectively with our allies. South Korea in particular is better suited to produce American ships. Less than two weeks ago, we had this great news that the United States was going to be collaborating more with South Korea. . . . The Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby back in January called South Korea a ‘model ally’ because of their defense investments. There are political-military reasons why I think the alliance is going to withstand this.”
— Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Director, Keystone Defense Initiative
Hudson Highlights
Patrick M. Cronin | The Daily Wire
“Kim remains resolutely uninterested in serious engagement. President Trump frequently emphasizes his good personal relationship with Kim, and few would question his confidence in dealing directly with strong leaders or pursuing unconventional diplomacy. But personal rapport with North Korea’s dictator does little to alter Kim’s strategic calculations. Those calculations center on strengthening Pyongyang’s nuclear posture, securing a survivable second-strike capability, deterring a preemptive attack, and exploiting growing military capabilities for coercive leverage. Against that backdrop, the decision to pull US troops out of one of the two major annual US–South Korean military exercises erodes deterrence and represents an unnecessary retreat. . . . Another round of photo opportunities with Kim, whose export of KN-23 and KN-24 missiles and deployment of troops have helped sustain Russia’s war against Ukraine, is of secondary strategic importance. Washington should focus more, not less, on rebuilding the US defense industrial base, replenishing depleted munitions, accelerating military modernization, and fielding new systems at scale.”
H.R. McMaster | CBS News
“Not only does he [Kim Jong Un] continue to pose a threat to South Korea and Japan with his missile capabilities, the nuclear weapons program, and so forth, but he is providing about 40 percent of all the artillery that Russia uses against Ukraine and still has 15,000 North Korean troops fighting on European soil. He is a card-carrying member of the axis of aggressors, and he’s getting from Russia about $22 billion in return for this. He’s gotten a lot of energy from Russia, and he’s got a lot of help with his conventional weapons programs. . . . Kim Jong Un is riding pretty high right now. In 2017 and 2018, he was isolated; maximum pressure was in effect. . . . That’s not the case this time. He doesn’t feel as isolated; a lot of the pressure is off of him. I think he thinks he can get something really big from President Trump because he perceives this kind of weakness in the West, this idea, this narrative that Iran is somehow winning the war, which I disagree with.”
Can Kasapoğlu | Hudson Institute
“North Korea may provide Russia with 30,000 additional troops and further support for its missile programs. In return, Pyongyang’s forces will receive combat experience that could affect the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula. . . . North Korea has dispatched thousands of laborers to Russia and has supplied Russia with KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles, long-range artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), and millions of artillery rounds. South Korean intelligence estimated in July 2025 that North Korean deliveries to Russia had exceeded 12 million 152mm-class artillery rounds. Additionally, Ukrainian military intelligence assesses that North Korea now supplies roughly half of Russia’s artillery ammunition. . . . The two allies have reportedly agreed to establish North Korean production facilities for Shahed-type attack drones, while Russian instructors are training North Korean personnel to operate first-person view (FPV) systems near the North Korean city of Wonsan and in Pyongyang. . . . In fighting Russia’s war against Ukraine, North Korean troops are gaining direct experience in electronic warfare, counter-drone operations, fiber-optic FPV systems, long-range unmanned strikes, and the broader mechanics of modern high-intensity warfare.”
Michael Sobolik | The Daily Wire
“Thanks to opposition to increased military spending and a loud minority of Republicans who claim to be ‘antiwar,’ the administration claims it is Republicans who are weak on defense and who’ve abandoned America’s rightful role in world affairs—not the president. While this new authoritarian axis of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea is strengthening, an isolationist ‘antiwar’ wing of the Republican Party—which looks a lot more like its Leftist Code Pink fellow-travelers than ‘peace through strength’ Reagan Republicans—seems intent on taking credit for Biden’s chaos, letting the president and his incompetent foreign policy off the hook, while simultaneously leaving our allies out to dry. . . . In addition to the necessary weapons and policy improvements to the Senate-passed bill, the House version could include new ways to cut off the Russian war machine and free American energy from the Biden administration’s burdensome regulations.”
Key Insights
Donald J. Trump | The White House
“I get along with him [Kim Jong Un] great. The fact that I get along with him, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should’ve never allowed it to happen; they should’ve never allowed it. If I were president, I wouldn’t have allowed it. But he’s got them. I get along with him very well. We can’t let Iran get a nuclear weapon. I know Kim Jong Un very well, and he’s going to be fine. As long as we have a smart president, he’s going to be fine. If we have a dumb president, then he’s probably not going to be so fine. Yeah, I will be [meeting with him later this year].”
Andrew Yeo | Center for Strategic and International Studies
“What was strange is that, [at] USFK [United States Forces Korea], the person in charge of public affairs, he came out explaining why we do these exercises and that they’re even more important because of what North Korea has been learning on the battlefield from its experience on the Ukraine front—how it’s picked up new battlefield tactics, new technology such as drone warfare. So, it means that the US and South Korean militaries have to be prepared for this new upgrade, I think, in the North Korean military. I am pretty sure the US and South Korean militaries, and even the Pentagon, were probably caught off guard from this tweet. This has had repercussions because, you know, the past week I’ve been hearing about ‘the Asia pivot is dead,’ ‘the last [US] aircraft carrier in the region is now leaving for the Middle East.’ And so that kind of resonates with those who think that the US is no longer—there’s a credibility or commitment problem within the region. . . . Tactically, if Kim then comes to the table because of this initiative, you might give President Trump some credit. But at a strategic level, I think there’s a lot that’s being risked and a lot that could be lost.”
Emma Scott, Sam Kessler, and Robert McMillan | Wall Street Journal
“It likely is thousands of [North Korean] IT workers who are looking for jobs in the United States. We’re talking about millions and millions of dollars going towards North Korea. I see them in governments, I see them in defense contractors, I see them at banking institutions. . . . After collecting their paychecks, the IT workers funnel the money back to Kim Jong Un’s regime, around $800 million a year by recent estimates. US officials say the money helps fund North Korea’s nuclear program and warn that some workers have also hacked their employers. . . . The actual workers operate in jurisdictions where the US can’t touch them. So they’re working out of North Korea, or they’re working out of China, or they’re working out of Russia. . . . The money earned through this scam typically follows a complicated and multi-step journey back to North Korea, often involving an assortment of foreign bank accounts, couriers, crypto transactions, and money launderers. . . . Primarily, we’ve seen this as a revenue generation issue. The biggest concern we have is that this can quickly pivot into an espionage issue, theft of intellectual property, potential sabotage when you’re working in critical networks, supporting critical infrastructure.”
Andrew Yeo | Lawfare Daily
“North Korea rejects unification and sees the two Koreas as a separate state. That wasn’t the case in 2018. . . . China and Russia [are now] firmly in North Korea’s corner. The importance of US-North Korea relations for Kim has diminished. . . . Exercises like the Ulchi Freedom Shield that’s held every August annually are not just about thousands of troops practicing maneuvers. They’re also about making sure that this complicated, combined command structure can actually function under a crisis or under wartime conditions. . . . The consensus that seems to be emerging in, at least in DC, is that the immediate objective should be threat reductions/arms control/limitation in terms of where North Korea’s nuclear program is at. So, we should be asking questions like, can you get a verifiable freeze on fissile material production? Or can you constrain nuclear missile testing or further expansion of its nuclear arsenal? Or can you introduce risk reduction measures that lower the possibility of escalation. . . . They’re big into cryptocurrency and crypto theft. I think $2 billion were stolen by North Korean actors between 2022 and 2024. So that’s something that I think Americans may need to update, that North Korea is not so isolated as it once was, and it’s not this poor, backward country that we may have been thinking for decades.”
Top Reads
The Future of Nuclear Non-Proliferation in East Asia Depends on Iran
Kyle Balzer | National Review
China Has Quietly Accepted a Nuclear North Korea
Dan Blumenthal | National Security Journal
Toward a Free and Unified Korea—Resolving the Korea Challenge at Its Source
Robert Joseph et al. | National Institute for Public Policy
North Korean Missiles Are Abetting Russia’s Campaign to Overwhelm Ukraine’s Air Defenses
Zahar Hryniv | Atlantic Council
Kim Yo-jong Mocks Lee Jae Myung’s Response to Trump’s Exercise Cutback
Kim Min-seo | The Chosun Daily
North Korea Launches 10+ Ballistic Missiles amid Halved South Korea-US Drills
Kim Min-seo and Yang Ji-ho | The Chosun Daily
Kelly, Tillis Press Trump Administration to Reverse Cuts to Joint Military Exercises with South Korea
Mark Kelly and Thom Tillis | US Senate
Rebuilding the United States Navy and America’s Shipbuilding Industrial Base
The White House
South Korean Shipbuilders First to Benefit from Trump’s Plan to Keep US Navy Afloat
Park Chan-kyong | South China Morning Post
North Korea Preparing Further Russia Troop Deployments, No Sign Move Imminent, Seoul Says
Reuters
Ukraine’s Zelensky Says up to 50,000 North Korean Troops to Be Deployed in Russia
Heejin Kim | Reuters
Trump’s Slight of South Korea in Favor of North Raises Broader US Security Concerns
Matthew Lee and Ben Finley | Associated Press
Japan Warns Russia-North Korea Axis Raises Regional Security Threat
Shotaro Tani | Nikkei Asia
