Kim Jong-un’s Post-Jang Song-taek Foreign Policy Void

Following the drama of Jang Song-taek’s humiliation at a Korean Workers’ Party conclave and execution following a military tribunal last week, the next big question for foreign observers is what the implications are likely to be for North Korea’s relations with its neighbors. China’s perception of Jang as an economic partner may make Beijing unsure of their relationship with Pyongyang in the near term, and the consolidation of power under Kim Jong-un will make Seoul likewise wary of working with the young leader.

I analyzed the economic and political repercussions for China, South Korea and the United States in an op-ed column that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on December 16, available here.