force beyond the Korean Peninsula

umbrella and remained weak and impoverished due to decades of economic sanctions. While South Korea has been preoccupied with balancing North Korean military power, Japan has been able to prioritise issues beyond its main archipelago, such as China’s threats to maritime security in East and Southeast Asia. For Japanese defence planners, the North Korean threat is not as urgent as China’s expansionism. North Korea remains a frail power, but its incipient military alliance with Russia promises toboost its technological capacity, enable its independence from China — its traditional security partner — and allow it to project force beyond the Korean Peninsula. This Russian aid is already visible. Moscow has shared air defence technology with Pyongyang and has aided it in its halting efforts at a military space program. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, predicts that Moscow will transfer nuclear submarine สล็อต