In recent days, the situation on the Korean peninsula has become more tense than ever when provocative actions from North Korea have continuously taken place. It is worth noting that these moves are not merely regional aggression as before, but also show an increasingly close cohesion between North Korea and Russia in the context of the happening Ukraine conflict.
The beginning of the stressful series of events is that North Korea has carried out GPS jamming attacks over the weekend. This is not a single or random act, but part of the systemic strategy of Pyongyang.
These attacks have caused significant interruptions for Korean aviation and maritime operations, with dozens of civil aircraft and many boats affected. This not only causes safety risks but also directly affects economic and trade activities in the region.
Analysts Suki Chun recently wrote on the 38 NOT website specializing in North Korea that interrupting the GPS signals and North Korea's flying ball campaigns highlight the vulnerability of Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main transport gateway. The airport serves 56 million passengers and 3.6 million tons of goods per year, North Korea is less than 100 kilometers. So far, no major aviation incidents have occurred, but the intervention of GPS can be dangerous for commercial airlines flying in poor vision conditions and violating international conventions on maritime safety. Mr. Chun wrote, he added that in 2024, North Korea's balloon was stopped running the runway of the airport 12 different times in a total of 265 minutes.
In addition, Jang Moo Jin Principal of North Korea University in Seuol told the AFP news agency that the reason for disturbing activities needs to be further analyzed to know North Korea's true goal. Mr. Jang said it is still unclear whether intention to turn the world's attention from the implementation of the military causing psychological insecurity to the people of the South, or to respond to the exercise on Friday this week. However, GPS jamming attacks are at risk of actually causing serious incidents, including the possibility of aircraft accidents in the worst case. Especially noteworthy is that the time of these attacks just a week after North Korea tested their latest generation ICBM missiles. This missile is said to use advanced solid fuel technology to shorten the time to prepare and increase maneuverability, making it difficult to detect and intercept.
The development of this weapon not only demonstrates North Korea's military technology progress but also shows Pyongyang's determination in improving the capacity and ability to deter the opponent by nuclear. The head of the Korean Defense Research Forum in Seuol said that it could be said that the missile in the launch that day could carry the largest and most destructive warhead of North Korea. He said the launch was also likely to be designed to test other technological aspects that North Korea needs to master to further promote its ICBM program.
North Korea has made steps in missile technology in recent years, but many foreign experts believe that it has not had nuclear missiles that can attack the US continent. But they said that North Korea is still completely capable of owning short -range missiles that can attack nuclear across the entire Korean territory. Earlier we knew that North Korea also exploded unused roads and railways connected to Korea in October as an act of showing anger to Seuol and starting November with a new continental ballistic missile test to increase pressure on Wasington.
South Korea's reaction to these actions is also very noticeable, on November 8, the GCS League of the South Korean Union said that the country shot a earthquake ballistic missile for Hyunmoo-2 to the West to show off their power after a series of North Korea's recent missile launches. According to Yonhap news agency, it is known that the Hyunmoo missile plays an important role in the ability to attack South Korea's head for Seuol to launch an attack if there are signs of an upcoming attack from North Korea. This is a sign that President Yoon Suk-Yeol's government is pursuing a tougher policy for North Korea.
Different from the softer approach of the previous governments, President Yoon also said that the nuclear alliance between Korea and the United States would immediately attack North Korea if Pyongyang tried to launch an atomic weapon ambush into Korea. "I believe it would be unreasonable if they decided to conduct a nuclear attack on Korea and if they did so, the Korean -US nuclear coalition would immediately attack North Korea with Wasington's nuclear weapons." We are capable and are improving the ability to attack the opponent of the weapons department as well as the ability to intercept of missiles and attack the command and control centers of the opponent.
The aforementioned missile launch of South Korea was conducted in a military exercise in Taean district, 108 kilometers southwest of Seuol. The tissue exercise of a North Korea's attack and a ship where the rocket was launched. Matches like this are designed to prove Seuol's readiness in responding to all Pyongyang's provocative actions. This showing the strength emphasizes increasing tensions in the region with both North and South Korea, enhancing military activities to respond to each other's missile tests, and the most full of the new GPS attack event seems to be the initial move for tensions that may continue to escalate. However, what makes the current situation more complicated is the deeper relationship between North Korea and Russia.
According to Pyongyang intelligence reports, about 10,000 soldiers to support Russia in the conflict in Ukraine. This figure, if exactly, will be a witness to the unprecedented level of North Korea and an international conflict. In addition, the supply of artillery shells and missiles to Russia also shows that North Korea's increasingly important role in supporting Matxkova's war efforts and this military cooperation not only benefit both parties but also changes the balance of power in the region. For North Korea, cooperation with Russia can bring benefits of economic technology and political support. For ivory North Korea's support, supplementing the supply of weapons and manpower in the context of isolated by the West. This has led to an important change in Korean policy.
This week, President Yoon Suk-Yeol announced that he could consider providing direct weapons to Ukraine, a step marking a major change in traditional policies, not providing weapons for conflicting countries. This decision not only reflects South Korea's concerns about cooperation between North Korea and Russia, but also shows that Seuol has become more and more active in participating in global security issues. In addition, the situation became more complicated with increasing cyber attacks from hackers supporting Russia to target Korea. This shows that conflicts are not limited to traditional military fields but also expanded to cyberspace, an increasingly important battlefield in modern conflicts.
In this context, the international community, especially countries in the region, are facing big challenges, on the one hand they need to take effective deterrent measures to prevent North Korea's provocative actions and the response from South Korea. On the other hand, all must join hands to avoid unnecessary tension escalation can lead to unforeseen consequences. Looking at the future, the situation on the Korean peninsula may continue to be tense, the increasingly closer cohesion between North Korea and Russia, along with continuing to develop weapons programs showing that Pyongyang has no intention of changing its approach. This raises great challenges not only for regional security but also for world order in general.
In short, recent developments on the Korean peninsula have shown that the boundary between regional and global conflicts is increasingly faint, North Korea's actions are no longer just a problem of the East Asia region but have become part of a larger geopolitical picture. This requires a more comprehensive new approach from the international community to maintain peace and stability in the region as well as globally. But in the immediate future, whether the Korean Union will continue to push stress up again? And whether North Korea will have the next move, in the next few days may be an important hinge in identifying whether a conflict actually happens.