North Korea’s push to modernize its military is accelerating, fueled by deepening ties with Russia and a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and automated warfare. Pyongyang is in its strongest strategic position in decades, a reality that demands urgent attention.
North Korea on Friday unveiled a new generation of missiles and advanced weapons systems at a parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Such displays are not mere theatrics. They offer crucial insights into how far North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s weapons technology has advanced, and how much of a direct threat it poses to the US and its allies.
Kim has in the past few months been on a drive to raise his country’s international stature. At a Chinese military parade last month, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin, a stark visual image of his regime’s clout, its powerful friends and his newfound confidence.
Last year, he signed a mutual defense pact with Moscow, heralding the start of a strategic alliance. Kim has sent thousands of troops, missiles and munitions to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine. In return, he gets sophisticated military technology that could transform his forces.
For decades, the fractious relationship between the nuclear-armed North and the US-backed South has been one of the world’s most intractable security dilemmas.
Kim’s new focus marks a dangerous phase. He is operating from a place of unprecedented strength.
“Kim has become far more focused on modernizing North Korea’s non-nuclear capabilities, as cooperation with Moscow has increased,” said Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “He wants to show that he doesn’t run a backward military state, and that he can hang his hat with the best of them.”
That is not to say South Korea and the US are falling behind — they are still far more capable, but Kim’s ambitions are clear, Panda added. Kim wants a stronger and more modern military, so that he can maintain his tight grip at home, and project more power overseas.
Japan, too, is watching the military buildup with growing alarm. In its 2025 Defense White Paper, Tokyo warned that North Korea’s hypersonic missile program represents a grave and imminent threat to security. The deepening military partnership with Moscow is especially worrisome, given the risk of technology transfers that could speed up Pyongyang’s pursuit of more advanced weapons.
The regime is increasingly focused on AI and uncrewed systems, the Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy said.
The shift in strategy introduces a destabilizing element to the regional security equation. Last month, as US and South Korea launched joint military exercises, Kim inspected the performance test of uncrewed weapons and equipment at one of his factories. He has declared that AI-powered drones are a priority.
Closer ties between Pyongyang and Moscow are having economic consequences, too. Last year, North Korea expanded at its fastest pace since 2016, in part helped by the export of munitions to Russia, South Korea’s central bank said. Even with the estimated uptick in the economy, North Korea remains impoverished. The bank estimated nominal gross national income (GNI) at 44.4 trillion won (US$31.1 billion) last year, about 1.7 percent the size of South Korea’s economy. Per capita GNI was just 1.72 million won, or about 3.4 percent of the level in South Korea.
The alliance is effectively insulating Kim’s regime from crippling international sanctions, blunting the financial pressure that has long been central to the US’ containment strategy.
It is clear that the current combination of sanctions, diplomatic pressure and incentives to get Kim to roll back his nuclear program and military advancements are not working. Dialogue is crucial.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to meet the North Korean leader, an initiative that Seoul is backing. An opportunity could arise this month, when Trump attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.
Loosening Pyongyang’s ties to Moscow would be imperative. During his first term, Trump’s diplomacy with Kim did little to slow North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Since then, Kim has rejected further talks with Washington and aligned more closely with Russia.
Acceptance that North Korea is already a nuclear state, as Bloomberg columnist Gearoid Reidy has argued, could help improve ties and pave the way for an arms-control deal between Washington and Pyongyang. Kim would then have far less reason to lean on authoritarian partners such as Putin. Reducing its cooperation with Moscow would also slow Pyongyang’s military modernization, buying valuable time to rebuild US–North Korea engagement and revive inter-Korean dialogue.
All of this would require deft diplomacy, currently sorely lacking in the White House, but the stakes are far higher than they were in Trump’s first term. A nuclear-armed, technologically advancing North Korea is not just a Korean Peninsula problem; it is a direct challenge to global stability.
Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC’s lead Asia presenter and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades. This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
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