North Korea and the Ukraine War: How Kim Jong Un Uses the Crisis as an Opportunity – 11KM Podcast

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents North Korea and the Ukraine War: How Kim Jong Un Uses the Crisis as an Opportunity – 11KM Podcast.

Imagine your negotiating partner is arming at the very moment you sit down at the table. That is exactly what is happening right now between North Korea and the rest of the world. The new episode of the tagesschau podcast 11KM takes on this topic and asks: How is ruler Kim Jong Un using the Ukraine war for his purposes?

It's about more than a sidenote from the Far East. North Korea is massively arming, while at the same time the negotiations over the nuclear program have failed. For Kim, the Ukraine war in this mix is apparently a historic opportunity to expand his own position – and that is precisely what the new podcast episode brings out.

At its core is the question: What connections are there between North Korea's arms buildup, the stalled diplomacy, and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict? And what role does Pyongyang play for itself in all of this?

What the 11KM episode is about

The reporters of the 11KM podcast work out how Kim Jong Un views the war against Ukraine as a strategic lever. When a world power like Russia is tied down by a long war, the balance of power shifts – including in Asia. For a country like North Korea, that can be a window that would not otherwise open.

The episode links two strands that reinforce each other: North Korea's massive arms buildup and the failure of the nuclear negotiations. Both developments show that Pyongyang apparently sees little reason to hold back diplomatically in the current global situation.

Why this topic matters to you too

Even if Pyongyang seems far away on the world map: an arming country with failed nuclear negotiations changes the security setup in East Asia. That has ripple effects on the question of how reliable international diplomacy still functions – and on the stability of a world that is already under pressure from the Ukraine war.

The 11KM podcast aims to make these connections tangible – not as a lexicon entry, but as a reportage that explains in an understandable way why a distant conflict suddenly becomes a factor shaping the global situation.

What 11KM is about in general

11KM is the news podcast of tagesschau. According to its own description, it regularly publishes handpicked stories and investigations on current topics – exciting, investigative, and high-quality. Elena Kuch and Kevin Ebert take turns hosting the episodes, together with ARD correspondents such as Rebecca Barth, who recently reported on Ukrainian military strikes against Russia.

Where to listen to the episode

You can find the new episode on North Korea and the Ukraine war directly on the tagesschau podcast page. 11KM is available on multiple platforms, including via the ARD Sounds page for the podcast and via the feed overview page.

If you're looking for more background beyond this episode, it's worth checking out the topic page for 11KM.