The two Koreas' military activities picked up again in February, with the ROK carrying out a series of joint military exercises with the United States and Japan, and the DPRK resuming missile launches after more than a one-month hiatus timed with those drills.
Key Takeaways
- The two Koreas' military activities picked up again in February, with the ROK carrying out a series of joint military exercises with the United States and Japan, and the DPRK resuming missile launches after more than a one-month hiatus timed with those drills.
- The DPRK's military actions are consistent with its hardening line across all domestic and foreign policy realms, as exemplified by Kim's December 2022 reiteration of the "power for power and a head-on contest" policy against the United States and the ROK.
- Pyongyang's official statements issued in February suggest that it may not engage in a military tit-for-tat cycle with the ROK as it did in fall 2022, but instead could take fewer but more powerful counteractions to US and ROK military moves.
