Ukraine Has Problems With Both Koreas? | The Capital Cable #144

North Korea has sent soldiers and munitions to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine. South Korea, a major aid recipient country for Ukraine, has kept its support largely at the humanitarian level. The two governments have also clashed over captured North Korean soldiers, after Kyiv publicly disclosed that it had transferred two prisoners of war to Seoul, which Seoul says violated an agreement to keep the transfer confidential.

Where do Kyiv and Seoul’s interests converge and diverge on North Korea’s role in the war? What is Pyongyang gaining from its partnership with Moscow, and what does it mean for the Korean Peninsula? 

Joining Mark Lippert and Victor Cha to discuss these issues and more are Emma Chanlett-Avery of the Asia Society Policy Institute and Sydney Seiler of CSIS.

Emma Chanlett-Avery is Deputy Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute's Washington, DC office and the Director for Political-Security Affairs. She leads Congressional outreach efforts and directs ASPI’s policy engagement on Indo-Pacific alliances. Previous to this post, she served for 20 years as a Specialist in Asian Affairs at the Congressional Research Service, where she focused on United States relations with Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Thailand, and Singapore, with an emphasis on security issues. In 2023, she served as a Congressional Fellow on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, assisting the Chairman with drafting Asia policy legislation and preparing for hearings.

Sydney Seiler was the national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council from 2020 to 2023 and is one of the nation’s top experts on North Korea. Previously, he was the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) senior analyst and senior defense intelligence expert for North Korea from 2016 to 2020, serving as the principal adviser and senior expert on Korean Peninsula security issues to the USFK commander and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Enterprise. Mr. Seiler also served as the U.S. special envoy for Six Party Talks (2014–2015), where he coordinated U.S. diplomacy and policy on the DPRK and led negotiations with North Korea. Prior to that, Mr. Seiler served as the director for Korea on the National Security Council (2011–2014).

The Capital Cable is made possible through general support to CSIS.