Ankit Panda: North Korea’s deterrence calculus after US strikes on Iran
North Korea News Podcast by NK NewsShow Notes
International security expert Ankit Panda joins the podcast this week to unpack the latest U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran and what they could mean for North Korea’s deterrence thinking. The conversation covers what does and doesn’t translate to the Korean Peninsula: the impact of geography and escalation dynamics, why saturation tactics and interceptor “magazine depth” matter and the contrast between Iran’s threshold posture and North Korea’s workable nuclear deterrent.
He also discusses the new five-year military plan that Kim Jong Un outlined at the Ninth Party Congress, highlighting the significance of the DPRK’s emphasis on counterspace capabilities and raising questions about its anti-satellite options.
Ankit Panda is the Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insights from our very own journalists.
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Editor’s note: This interview was recorded in July 2026. Some references to recent events and political developments reflect the situation at the time of recording and may differ from subsequent developments.
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