Arms Race Intensifies in Korea as the North Is Emboldened by Russia Alliance

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A rare escalation this month exposed the increasingly lethal arsenals the two Koreas are building up across the world’s most heavily fortified border.

A photograph provided by North Korean state media showing the leader, Kim Jong-un, and his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, overseeing the firing of an intermediate-range missile from the country’s east coast during a drill in October. Credit: Korean Central News Agency, via Reuters
An intensifying arms race is gripping the Korean Peninsula, as both sides trade missile tests and North Korea supercharges development of more lethal warheads, attack drones and other new weapons to threaten the South.

North and South Korea have maintained a fierce military rivalry since the Korean War ended in an uneasy armistice, with Pyongyang turning to nuclear weapons after the Soviet bloc collapsed. Now, North Korea is rapidly upgrading its conventional forces with the help of its military partnership with Russia, recently revitalized by the Ukraine war.

In exchange for North Korean arms and soldiers, Russia has given the North a live combat laboratory to test its weapons and troops, refine its missile performance and master drone warfare. The North’s military may soon be able to unleash vast swarms of low-cost drones to overwhelm the more expensive, high-tech defenses of South Korea and the U.S. forces stationed there.

Rising hostility along the inter-Korean border has given an ominous tone to the region’s military buildup. In recent months, North Korea has begun heavily fortifying its border with more powerful weapons and additional barbed-wire fences, concrete barriers and minefields. » | Choe Sang-Hun | Reporting from Seoul | Friday, October 23, 2026