North Korea is bringing back all the old Cold War fears. How did we get here?

Apr 21, 2017

A soldier salutes from atop an armoured vehicle as it drives past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang April 15, 2017. The man is wearing the uniform of a North Korean tank commander. His pose, the direction he is looking and the flags of both the ruling Workers Party of Korea and the Korean Peoples Army on the vehicles are deliberately placed to evoke the composition used in North Korean propaganda style. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj SEARCH "PARADE WID" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. - RTS12G5P

Nuclear power and nationalistic pride have converged in a high-stakes showdown Image: REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Philip Shetler-Jones

Programme Lead, International Security, World Economic Forum

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Geo-economics is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Geo-economics

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Geo-economics
See all

Eurozone recession fears, and other economics news to read this week

Joe Myers

December 8, 2023

Eurozone inflation continues to fall, and other economy stories to read this week

Rebecca Geldard

December 1, 2023

Global economic growth to slow in 2024, and other economics news to read this week

Rebecca Geldard

November 17, 2023

China's growth forecasts upgraded, Eurozone recession fears and other economy news to read this week

Kate Whiting

November 10, 2023

Big central banks pause interest rate rises, and other economics news to read this week

Ian Shine

November 3, 2023

Biggest US budget gap since COVID-19, and other economics news to read this week

Joe Myers

October 27, 2023