The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has, for the first time, sent combatant units abroad, to aid Russia in the war in Ukraine. As noted in the Joint Statement on the DPRK’s Deployment of Troops to Russia this development indelibly connects the Indo-Pacific and European theaters,

To achieve peace in Ukraine, the incoming Trump administration will have to turn off Russia’s most active ally — North Korea. Last year, after watching Russia falter in Europe’s largest war since World War II,