North Korea’s nuclear test may further damage nonproliferation efforts, as well as complicate ongoing negotiations with Iran to suspend its nuclear program. Much will depend on the response from Moscowand Beijing.

The government of North Korean President Kim Jung-Il retains a virtual death grip on the nation's economy, directing all official economic activity through an authoritarian command system. But recent moves to liberalize some aspects of the economy pose a dilemma for Kim: the country needs to modernize to survive, but opening up the economy will threaten his hold on power.

News reports say the United States may be shifting its approach toward North Korea in an ongoing effort to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program. But some experts say that with negotiations stalled and important U.S. elections approaching, North Korea is content to wait out the Bush administration.

North Korea's recent nuclear program and recent nuclear test have resulted in on-going negotiations aimed at North Korea's cooperation with the international community.

The world's leading North Korea experts analyze the challenges and prospects the country is facing.

With China now South Korea's number-one trading partner and destination for foreign investment and tourism, what are the implications for politics and security in East Asia? Scott Snyder explores the transformation of the Sino–South Korean relationship since the early 1990s.

Further provocations by North Korea as well as other dangerous military interactions on or around the Korean peninsula remain a serious risk and carry the danger of unintended escalation.

North Korea has long been a serious concern to Washington. Now, with President Kim Jong-Il reportedly in bad health and possibly naming a successor, the United States must consider possible outcomes should the situation deteriorate and the current North Korean government collapse. This report examines the challenges that these scenarios would pose--ranging from securing Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal to providing humanitarian assistance--in the context of the interests of the United States and others in its valuable recommendations.

China is unlikely to exert more pressure on North Korea, so Washington should redirect its own role in brokering inter-Korean peace and engaging Pyongyang, says CFR's Nicole E. Lewis.

Northeast Asian regional security talks appear increasingly doomed since North Korea's latest missile and nuclear tests. CFR's Sheila Smith argues the talks are worth reviving.

North Korea's nuclear test raises new concerns about its nuclear capabilities, regime succession, and the limits of both international pressure and engagement. Four experts address the policy options available to influence Pyongyang.

Pyongyang's unsuccessful missile launch delays a new nuclear threat but raises disturbing prospects for violence on the Korean Peninsula, says CFR President Richard N. Haass.

The Seoul summit advances global efforts on securing nuclear materials in dozens of countries, but the challenge will be to sustain the focus on the universal elimination of weapons-usable material, writes CFR's Micah Zenko.

North Korea's decision to suspend nuclear tests in exchange for U.S. food aid may pave the way for resumption of the Six-Party Talks on denuclearization, but it's unlikely to yield significant progress, says CFR's Scott Snyder.

The latest inter-Korean talks were shadowed by North Korea's failure to apologize for the Cheonan sinking and Yeonpyeong Island shelling. This raises questions about renewed diplomacy on the North's nuclear program, says CFR's Scott Snyder.

South Korea's exercises on Yeonpyeong are a response to last month's North Korean attack and growing public anger, says CFR's Scott Snyder, who urges greater China-U.S. cooperation on the Korean peninsula and strengthening South Korean defenses.

Reports of a newly operational nuclear enrichment facility in North Korea highlight the regime's defiance of U.S. policy and UN sanctions as well as China's increasing closeness with North Korea, says CFR's Scott Snyder.