Global Scans · South Korea · Weekly Summary

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WHAT'S NEXT?: South Korea may go nuclear if Trump cancels the missile deployment and leaves the country alone facing the North's threats. With the President facing an impeachment vote and mass demonstrations on the streets political and economic turmoil may follow. Chinese markets has already shaken South Korea, where central bankers downgraded their forecasts for economic growth.

• Missile-firing submarines would add a maritime threat to the North's growing collection of solid-fuel weapons fired from land vehicles that are designed to overwhelm missile defences of South Korea, Japan and the United States. The Columbian
• Ongoing tensions between nuclear neighbours India and Pakistan, North Korea and South Korea, and China and Taiwan underscore the risk of a nuclear confrontation. Truthout
• India must partner with like-minded countries such as the United States, Japan, Australia, Indonesia and South Korea to strengthen global lithium supply chain management and reduce strategic vulnerabilities. East Asia Forum
• South Korea and the United States are strengthening joint deterrence capabilities in the face of North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats to the security of the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region. Indo-Pacific Defense Forum
• North Korea appears to have torn down a huge arch in its capital that symbolized reconciliation with South Korea, a week after leader Kim Jong Un dismissed decades of hopes for peaceful reunification with the war-divided peninsula's south. WDIV
• More young Brits and South Korean nationals will be eligible to experience life-changing opportunities in each other's countries thanks to the expansion of shared visa schemes between the UK and South Korea. GOV.UK
• The military cooperation between Russia and North Korea was unprecedented and warned that Russian military assistance to North Korea could undermine the US nuclear deterrence policy in South Korea and Japan. The Guardian
• As economic woes continue in North Korea, Pyongyang may face a growing need to promote regime support by blaming its unstable internal situation on external threats posed by South Korea and the United States. The Diplomat
• North Korea had a large nuclear arsenal, potentially 50 or 60 warheads deliverable on missiles that could reach all of South Korea, and virtually all of Japan and Guam. South China Morning Post
• If the US and China were on better terms, Beijing might be willing and able to intercede to ensure that its putative ally, North Korea, does not carry out military action that would endanger China's security no less than South Korea's or Japan's. CounterPunch.org
• The United States, South Korea and Japan have responded by strengthening their combined military exercises, which Kim portrays as invasion rehearsals, and sharpening their deterrence plans built around nuclear-capable US assets. Daily Pioneer
• Failing to supply Ukraine with more weapons could prompt US allies, including Japan and South Korea, to rethink their alliances and that a Russian victory in Ukraine will reverberate around the world. The Guardian
• North Korea should plan for completely occupying, subjugating and reclaiming South Korea in the event of war. Just Security
• If South Korea begins selling arms directly to Ukraine, rather than to countries already arming the besieged country, Russia might respond by providing North Korea with a more powerful nuclear reactor. Newsweek
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's government has threatened nuclear war and kinetic war with Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. in recent months. The National Interest
• In 2024, the world will witness a slew of crucial elections; for president in Russia, the United States and Taiwan, and general elections in South Korea. The Asahi Shimbun
• North Korea has called Yoon a puppet traitor and threatened to turn the Pacific Ocean into a firing range in response to greater military cooperation between the US, South Korea and Japan. Yahoo News
• South Korea's intelligence agency has warned of a high probability that Pyongyang will carry out military provocations before the South holds a general election in April. NHK World
• South Korea's Defense Ministry warned in response that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, South Korean and U.S. forces will punish it overwhelmingly, resulting in the end of the Kim government. CBS News
• The Association of South East Asian Nations is a political and economic union of 10 states, for example, while Japan, South Korea and the US are about to complete a pact that will enable them to rapidly share information if North Korea launches a missile. DW.COM
• Because the Philippines, like nearby Japan and South Korea, has a mutual defence treaty with the United States, deaths of Filipinos could trigger US forces to respond. CNN

Last updated: 07 February 2024