North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has appeared in a slew of new propaganda videos, promoting technological advances in the regime’s nuclear program and issuing warnings to South Korea and its allies. For the first time since the Korean War was paused seven decades ago, the dictator has talked about South Korea as an enemy, rather than part of a peninsula that had to be reunified under the regime, marking a historic shift. 

As Pyongyang reinforces its military cooperation with Moscow, stepping up support for the war in Ukraine, Kim Jong Un has embraced its enhanced international status as a weapons provider, while also preparing for the outcome of the U.S. election. 

Meanwhile, reports from inside the country indicate furtherly stepped up social control, with human rights violations and harsh punishments helping Mr. Kim to tighten its grip on power.

In this episode, Asia Matters host Paolo Bosonin taps two veteran experts for intelligence and analysis: General Chun In-bum, former commander of South Korea’s special forces, and Jenny Town from the 38 North program at the Stimson Center.