Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
After Iran strikes, N. Korea sees decapitation threat as ‘much more real’: experts
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a training site for snipers in an unidentified location of North Korea, Tuesday, in this photo released Thursday by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
Trump officials echo tougher message on global nuclear brinkmanship
U.S. strikes on Iran, coupled with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s vow to “deal with” Tehran’s nuclear ambitions while sending “plenty of signals,” are meant as a pointed warning that extends beyond the Middle East, according to experts, who noted Thursday that North Korea is likely watching with a mix of heightened anxiety and greater determination to retain its own nuclear arsenal.
Hegseth said Wednesday (local time) that Washington’s operation in Iran targets its “nuclear ambitions” and “will send plenty of signals in the process” — a message analysts in Seoul say was deliberately broad and closely watched in North Korea. This came a day after Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby described North Korean and Russian nuclear weapons as the “primary existential threat” facing Washington, signaling a hardening line on nuclear dangers in both countries.
For Kim Jong-un, the most immediate lesson from the U.S. operations in Venezuela and Iran — and the latest warnings out of Washington — is that the U.S. capability and willingness to remove hostile leaders has moved from theory to practice, according to Go Myong-hyun, an analyst at the Institute for National Security Strategy, a state-funded think tank.
“The decapitation capabilities the U.S. has just shown in Venezuela and Iran are, in fact, real and powerful,” Go told The Korea Times. “For a regime built around protecting the leader above all else, that makes the threat feel much more real in Pyongyang.”
Go sees Hegseth’s comments as closely aligned with the Pentagon’s latest National Defense Strategy, which groups China, Russia, Iran and North Korea in an escalating threat sequence. This underpins a harder institutional posture toward Pyongyang even as Trump continues to float the idea of another summit, he added.
Go also said all this changes the diplomatic risk for Kim attached to any future summit with Trump. Before the U.S. strikes, Kim could treat such a meeting partly as political theater, with denuclearization demands seen as negotiable demands.
“Now, any U.S. demand for denuclearization will be heard less as a normal request and more as a threat,” he said.
Two F/A-18 Super Hornets launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Tuesday, in support of Operation Epic Fury, in this U.S. Navy handout photo released by U.S. Central Command public affairs. AFP-Yonhap
Cha Du-hyeogn, vice president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank, said the North’s elites may be drawing “two conflicting lessons at the same time.”
Cha said the military campaign in Iran shows a country can be hit “before it actually builds a bomb,” which will only harden Pyongyang’s belief that it must not give up its arsenal. At the same time, he noted, the fast, intelligence-driven strikes in Iran and earlier in Venezuela show that “even with nuclear weapons, you can still be taken out” if Trump decides to act.
“That will feed both paranoia and stubbornness,” Cha said. “They will feel more vulnerable, but also more certain that Washington will never accept them as a legitimate nuclear state.”
Experts also said North Korea has learned from U.S. strikes against Iran and Venezuela that it cannot depend on China or Russia, as both countries offered only diplomatic support and took no concrete action when their allies came under attack.
So how will North Korea respond to the risks posed by Trump?
Oh Gyeong-seob, a senior analyst at the state-funded Korea Institute for National Unification, said the regime is likely to double down on two parallel tracks.
“One is to demonstrate that they can strike not only South Korea but also the U.S. mainland, from land and now from the sea,” he said. “They will keep repeating that any attempt at a leadership strike will trigger immediate nuclear retaliation.”
At the same time, Oh sees an unusual degree of restraint in North Korea’s public reaction to the Iran campaign. Pyongyang quickly issued a statement condemning the operation, but has not followed up with a sustained barrage of threats or personal attacks on Trump.
“They understand that they still need some room for negotiation with Washington,” Oh said. “Overreacting now could push Trump further toward military options, the outcome they are desperate to avoid.”