North Koreas Activities In Southeast Asia And The Implications For The Region

Since the Trump administration took office in January 2017, North Korea has occupied a central place in the administration’s foreign policy. Although the administration’s response has included a number of components—military signaling and exercises, sanctions, and even presidential tweets—Southeast Asia has quietly but clearly emerged as new focal point of US policy on North Korea. This piece addresses these developments in three main sections. The first reviews the reasons why the administration might have adopted a more public focus on Southeast Asia’s relations with North Korea, outlining the contours of North Korea’s presence in and engagement with the region. The second section explores the administration’s approach to this presence thus far. The third and final section discusses factors that will shape the future trajectory of relations between North Korea and Southeast Asia, and discusses the implications for future US and international policy toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).