International News on North Korean Relations

Diwata Shantel Thomas

Florida State University

February 17, 2022

21st Century North Korean Relations

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Supreme Leader has violated the United Nations Security Council resolutions by conducting aggressive military demonstrations to exert his dominance in the South Asian region. Kim Jong-un has shown ruthless leadership through his blatant disregard for the safety of international flights or shipping since the missile flew across the country and into the sea of the east coast. Serious concerns from American reports issue warnings to the Oval office of the aggressive nature in these military demonstrations that are the largest missiles North Korea has launched successfully.

Longest-range missile launch

Sunday, January 30, 2022, North Korea fired the most powerful missile it has tested since U.S. President Biden and Vice President Harris has taken office. Sunday’s test was the North’s 7th round of weapons launches this month. The US and eight other countries condemn the aggressive action from Pyongyang. The DPRK has violated multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions which must be reprimanded. Albania, Brazil, Britain, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates stand together in condemning the North Korean missile tests. (Business Standard, 2022)

Cyber Attack

According to NK news, the country has experienced an attack on internet servers which was in retaliation of cybersecurity experts through phishing campaigns. The cybersecurity researcher known as P4x has started disrupting servers hosted in the DPRK in retaliation after North Korean hackers targeted him over a year ago to steal his software information and vulnerabilities. The P4x hacker told NK news that his goal was to annoy the regime, but sources say that those hackers working outside North Korea have more to lose in their DDoS campaign allegedly orchestrated by the U.S. (NK news, 2022) The hacker was successful in shutting down the internet for some time and was able to dismantle outbound internet routers.

North Korea and Russia Trade Relations

The DPRK and the Far Eastern Federal District border trade has dropped significantly from $14.7 million in 2020 to $40,000 in the first 11 months of 2021. (NK News, 2022) The drop in trade relations has caused Pyongyang to reconstruct its foreign trade policies that focus on expanding new infrastructure to make trade easier with Moscow. Pyongyang knows that Moscow could be the equalizer between trade with Beijing and will continue to pursue new trade advancement opportunities. Phased restoration talks have begun and both countries are looking forward to new infrastructure plans that will help long term trade investments into both countries' economies.

References

Business Standard. (2022). US, 8 other nations urge UNSC to condemn North Korean missile tests. Retrieved by https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/us-8-other-nations-urge-unsc-to-condemn-north-korean-missile-test-122020500344_1.html

NK News. (2022) New cyberattack hits North Korea after hacker claims responsibility for outages. Retrieved by https://www.nknews.org/2022/02/new-cyberattack-hits-north-korea-after-hacker-claims-responsibility-for-outages/

NK News. (2022) North Korea and Russia hold talks to ‘restore’ pandemic hit trade. Retrieved by https://www.nknews.org/2022/02/north-korea-and-russia-hold-talks-to-restore-pandemic-hit-trade/

NPR. (2022). North Korea tests longest-range missile since 2017. Retrieved by https://www.npr.org/2022/01/29/1076751251/north-korea-missile-launch

United Nations. (2022) DPR Korea: UN chief condemns missile launch as ‘clear violation. Retrieved by https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/02/1111042