Frank Aum

Oct 29, 2024 | usip.org | Mary Glantz |Frank Aum |Carla P. Freeman |Naiyu Kuo

After signing a mutual defense pledge in June, North Korea and Russia relations appear to be deepening. U.S. officials confirmed last week that North Korean troops, including elite special forces, were in Russia for training and potentially combat operations against Ukraine. This represents a “dangerous expansion of the war,” according to U.S. and NATO officials. It could also have serious ramifications for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.

Jul 22, 2024 | myemail-api.constantcontact.com | Song Sang-ho |Casey Lartigue Jr. |Ji Da-gyum |Frank Aum

Quotes of the Day:“This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies.

Jul 22, 2024 | usip.org | Frank Aum

July marks the anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War and the 1954 Geneva Conference, convened to resolve the issues that the war could not. In the seven decades since, efforts to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula have been limited and flawed. Today, the security situation in the region is arguably more precarious than ever, with a nuclear armed-North Korea and dysfunctional great power relations.

Jun 20, 2024 | usip.org | Mary Glantz |Frank Aum |Carla P. Freeman |Andrew Scobell

As President Vladimir Putin’s illegal war on Ukraine grinds on, the Russian leader needs friends and supporters wherever he can get them. To that end, Putin traveled this week to North Korea for the first time in nearly 25 years, looking to deepen cooperation with the rogue regime and, chiefly, to get more ammunition for his war on Ukraine. Putin and Kim Jong Un inked what the North Korean leader called “the most powerful treaty” ever between the two countries.

Apr 11, 2024 | usip.org | Frank Aum

What are peace games? They should not be confused with war games, which are simulations of military operations between two or more sides that seek to examine and improve warfighting concepts across different scenarios. In short, they focus on the conduct of war. Peace games, however, are simulations of primarily diplomatic engagement (but also using military and economic tools) that seek to explore and improve statecraft to advance peace and reduce the risks of conflict.