Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below.***North KoreaRussia used a North Korean Hwasong-11 missile to strike Kharkiv, Ukraine in January, according to U.N. sanctions monitors, further proof that Moscow helps Pyongyang skirt sanctions to supply arms for its invasion. This missile is one of at least nine such North Korean missiles used by Russia in combat, according to U.S. officials. Russia dealt a further blow to the international arms embargo on North Korea by vetoing the extensions of the mandate of a U.N. Security Council body overseeing the implementation of sanctions. The body’s mandate expired on April 30. The United States vowed to search for alternative means to hold countries accountable for enforcing the unanimously adopted resolutions. Meanwhile, China provided safe harbor for a Russian ship used for North Korean munitions transfers to Russia, adding to evidence of Chinese complicity in supporting Russia’s war and violating North Korea sanctions. North Korea also appears to be tightening its relationship with Iran — a North Korean delegation visited from April 27 to May 1. Iranian officials denied that military matters were discussed, but North Korea has a history of proliferating missile technology to Iran, and the U.S. State Department has expressed concern about the potential for nuclear cooperation as well. All of this has also been coupled with continued missile tests — on April 22, North Korea fired a volley of short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, following a spree of tests including a cruise missile (potentially nuclear-capable) and a “new-type anti-aircraft missile” on April 19, and a solid-fuel variety of a hypersonic missile earlier in April, which North Korea began testing in 2022. These tests are aimed at achieving full-spectrum deterrence (capable of striking both U.S. and allied assets in the region and the U.S.
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Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below.***North KoreaRussia used a North Korean Hwasong-11 missile to strike Kharkiv, Ukraine in January, according to U.N. sanctions monitors, further proof that Moscow helps Pyongyang skirt sanctions to supply arms for its invasion. This missile is one of at least nine such North Korean missiles used by Russia in combat, according to U.S. officials. Russia dealt a further blow to the international arms embargo on North Korea by vetoing the extensions of the mandate of a U.N. Security
