North Korean troops are fighting and dying in Ukraine, and the survivors are returning home to teach their comrades what they've learned. In return, Moscow is transferring military technology to Pyongyang. Beijing, worried about losing its grip, is competing for influence by easing up on decades of pressure that kept the Hermit Kingdom in check. And Washington? It's pulling forces out of the Indo-Pacific and sending them to other theaters.

In this episode, hosts Ray Powell and Jim Carouso sit down with Stanford's Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro, Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and leading expert on Chinese military strategy, to unpack her new Foreign Affairs article, "Kim's Dangerous Liaisons: Russia, China, and the Growing North Korea Threat."

Oriana makes the case that the Korean Peninsula is more dangerous today than it has been in years. North Korea is more capable and emboldened and less restrained by its two great-power patrons, who are playing against each other for influence. A conflict on the peninsula today would inevitably pull in Russia and China, nuclear powers with combined military and industrial weight that rivals the United States.

In this conversation:

Why North Korea's Ukraine experience is reshaping its military doctrine
What a "limited attack" on South Korea could look like, and how it could spiral
Why China's restraining role over Pyongyang is breaking down
How U.S. force movements to Iran are read in Beijing, Moscow, and Seoul
The 1950 Dean Acheson parallel and what Washington risks repeating
Why South Korea could one day hedge toward China if U.S. guarantees weaken
What real deterrence in Northeast Asia would actually require

A sharp, accessible podcast on great-power competition, alliance politics, Korean Peninsula security, U.S.-South Korea relations, and the growing China-Russia-North Korea axis.

👉 Follow Oriana Skylar Mastro on LinkedIn or X, @osmastro, or check out her new Indo-Pacific Policy Lab at Stanford University

👉 Follow us on X, @IndoPacPodcast, LinkedIn, or Facebook

👉 Follow Ray Powell on X, @GordianKnotRay, or LinkedIn, or check out his maritime transparency work at SeaLight

👉 Follow Jim Carouso on LinkedIn

👉 Sponsored by BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Indo-Pacific

Why Should We Care About Kim Jong Un’s Dangerous Liaisons with Putin and Xi? | with Oriana Skylar Mastro

Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific?

Why Should We Care About Kim Jong Un’s Dangerous Liaisons with Putin and Xi? | with Oriana Skylar Mastro