Ankit, Vipin, and I discussed U.S.-ROK-DPRK affairs after recent comments by President Lee at the U.N. General Assembly, the ROK’s “E.N.D.” policy rollout, U.S. immigration and trade actions, and DPRK activities. Ankit and Vipin recently traveled to Seoul and shared insights gained during their trip on the state of extended deterrence discussions between the United States and South Korea, as well as pending issues surrounding ROK STRATCOM, wartime OPCON transfer, the state of the ROK and DPRK militaries. In the context of E.N.D., we discuss what reasoning with North Korea may look like for the Trump administration—including the kinds of risk reduction asks the U.S. may make of KJU— as it finalizes the National Defense Strategy and considers North Korea policy.

We also talk about the state of North Korea’s nuclear program, including the reliability of its ICBMs and reentry vehicles, after recent comments by ROK President Lee. Ankit describes how far the DPRK nuclear prograb has come in the past several years, particularly since the Trump administration’s last attempts at diplomacy in 2017 in partnership with Moon Jae-In. He describes how North Korea’s arsenal and strategy create different potential military scenarios today compared to the past, and how that influences U.S. extended deterrence diplomatic aims (extra credit to Ankit for recalling the “B61s as wedding rings” comparison made by a former defense official.).

The three of us discuss the relationship between political succession in North Korea and the likelihood of conflict/military aggression. We end with a discussion about how stable the Korean peninsula is today compared to a few years ago, following strengthened extended deterrence, policy shifts in Seoul and Pyongyang away from unification, and military technology advancements in North Korea.

Intro/outro music licensed by Soundstripe: “The Iron Curtain” by Wicked Cinema.

Recording and edits through Riverside.fm.

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