Korean Security News Today

Anthony V Rinna is Senior Editor at the Sino-NK research group. He is a widely published scholar and policy analyst on Korean geopolitical affairs and provides expert commentary to media outlets including CNN and the Wall Street Journal. Rinna participated in a strategic assessment project pertaining to the Korean Peninsula at the request of the Joint Staff the United States Department of Defense.

Bruce E. Bechtol, Jr. is an award-winning professor of political science at Angelo State University and a retired Marine. He was an intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1997 until 2003, eventually serving as the senior analyst for Northeast Asia in the Intelligence Directorate (J2) on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon. He is the current president of the

Handcuffed, Shackled and Moved to Unknown Detention FacilityMonrovia – Two Liberian Maritime Program officials recently arrested by the police in the South Korean City of Busan, have been formally charged with the crime of "two-person joint rape."The

South Korea Should Reassess Its Push for Inter-Korean Engagement Has Pyongyang ever reciprocated Seoul or Washington’s goodwill gestures or concessions in the past? Unfortunately for Lee, copious evidence from prior negotiations demonstrates not only that North Korea has consistently failed to do so, but that concessions only further embolden North Korea. Lee In-young, the Republic of Korea (ROK)’s minister of unification, continues his push to revitalize inter-Korean engagement. In ear...

U.S. officials long have treated diplomatic relations as a reward. It is not. It is the best means of dealing with other governments, friend and foe alike.

Worth risking millions of lives?

Nothing about the first Korean War would prepare U.S. troops for the magnitude of the second.  Heres What You Need To Remember: Whether Korean War II would drag on into a permanent stalemate, given North Koreas economic fragility and Western reluctance to endure yet another “long war,” is another matter. Yet barring a collapse of Kim Jong-un’s regime or its army, it seems unlikely there will be any lightning advances or bug-out retreats up and down the Korean Peninsula. If a Second Kore...

Why A Naval Blockade Is Not the Move to Beat North Korea There’s more to blockading North Korea than ordering the fleet into action. A fair amount of politicking vis-à-vis allies, friends, and prospective antagonists would be a must. Heres What You Need To Remember: Washington must not regard a maritime quarantine as a cheap, quick, or painless alternative to land warfare. Just the opposite. It would be expensive, time-consuming, and resource-intensive. Donald J. Trump adores splashy gestur...

Deadliest Battleground Ever? The Korean DMZ is a Literal a Minefield  Any invading force would have to contend with secret tunnels, mines, and 1.2 million armed men and women. Heres What You Need to Remember: In the event of war, North Korea’s plan is to use overwhelming firepower and speed of action to conduct a “One Blow Non-Stop Attack.” North Korea’s armed forces number 1.2 million armed men and women in uniform, and the armed forces maintain a decidedly offensive stance. Approxim...