John Delury

US envoy reportedly voiced concern about Lee’s call for ‘nuclear-free peninsula’ The acting US ambassador reportedly said that the expression could send North Korea the wrong signal and that ‘denuclearization’ was preferable

US envoy reportedly voiced concern about Lee’s call for ‘nuclear-free peninsula’ www.hani.co.kr/arti/english...

G2 world

Thank you for the shout out!

What China wants from Europe China's activities in Europe are driven more by opportunism than any grand plot to divide the continent. In geopolitical terms, Beijing treats European countries as extensions of American power.

What China wants from Europe | @johndelury.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/wha...

"No Trump! No China!": Caught in middle, South Korea hosts rival superpowers South Korea's President Lee is in for a diplomatic dance as he hosts the leaders of US and China.

Delighted to reunite w/ Laura Bicker back on the Korean Peninsula!

As Donald Trump arrives here today and with him the global spotlight, #BBCNews chatted w/ opposing extremes of the Korean political spectrum, the anti-Trumpers vs. the anti-CCPers

www.bbc.com/news/article...

The World System Comes to Gyeongju Things I'm watching for as APEC approaches

Thoughts ahead of APEC
open.substack.com/pub/johndelu...

Trump and Kim Back to the DMZ? We are rapidly approaching a little window of opportunity for diplomacy with North Korea, as Donald Trump prepares to make the first visit to Asia of his second term, with stops in Tokyo (to meet the ...

October Surprise at the DMZ?

Whether Kim and Trump meet now or later (or never), important question is why & what next? I offer 3 options, although in the end we might need to invent another one

johndelury.substack.com/p/trump-and-...

Thanks for the shout out!

Parade season in the Far East! Kim Jong Un is next, hosting 80th anniversary of founding of Korean Workers Party in 1945. Check out my deep dive into Cold War context:

American Mao and his Lin Biao I read the transcripts so you don't have to, but you probably should if you haven't

Had some thoughts reading Quantico speeches by Hegseth and Trump through the lens of China's Cultural Revolution.

Shout outs to @goldkorn.bsky.social @mariarepnikova.bsky.social Geremie Barme, Orville Schell, Didi Tang

substack.com/@johndelury/...

Beijing’s Military Parade May Not Be the Show of Unity That It Seems Similarly high-profile diplomatic events involving Russia, China and North Korea in the 1950s failed to stop Cold War solidarity collapsing into acrimony

'How close are China, Russia, and North Korea, really?' This debate is at the heart of geopolitics. It's been going for years and will continue for a long time. In a new essay for @newlinesmag.bsky.social I offer the backlight of Cold War history to help us assess

newlinesmag.com/essays/beiji...

Delighted to share my first piece for New Lines Magazine; trying to understand the 2025 parade sent me back to 1957 and 1959 looking for clues

Jimmy Kimmel and the Power of Public Pressure Podcast Episode · The Political Scene | The New Yorker · 27/09/2025 · 44m

Domestic civil resistance argument by Hardy Merriman for solidarity, a Team Democracy, have international relations implications that global leaders have not yet acted upon. Not YET. great discussion @eosnos.bsky.social @sbg1.bsky.social @janemayer.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/j...

very kind of you to say... glad you enjoyed it!

I Watched This Kim Jong Un Documentary So You Don't Have To what we can learn from North Korean propaganda on Kim's visit to Beijing & the contrast between Putin and Xi

I wrote a new Substack about Kim-Xi-Putin vibes in Beijing, and to my surprise it ended up being mostly about hands.

Shoutouts @vanjackson.bsky.social @sheenagreitens.bsky.social @victordcha.bsky.social @colinzwirko.bsky.social @josephtorigian.bsky.social

substack.com/home/post/p-...

Stephen Hanmer D'Elía JD, LCSW | Stephen Hanmer D'Elía,JD,LCSW | Substack Exploring the intersections of healing, connection, and systemic change through therapy, policy, and practice. Click to read Stephen Hanmer D'Elía JD, LCSW, by Stephen Hanmer D'Elía,JD,LCSW, a Substac...

Stephen Hanmer D'Elía JD, LCSW
yauguru.substack.com?r=fir&utm_ca...

A mensch. I learned so much from him, and I feel honored too the three of us were able to have that conversation, and Jerry lives on in this as in countless projects, writings, students, cases.

A Visit to Yongsan Family Park Thinking about Imperium in the Children's Garden

Some urban travelogue/ imperial history ruminations from me, my second post on Substack, check it out and let me know thoughts.

Free to all but if you wanna join as paid subscriber that is totally fine with me!

johndelury.substack.com/p/a-visit-to...

Kim Jong Un takes his daughter to China — and fuels succession chatter Kim Ju Ae, who is about 12, has accompanied her father on a high-profile visit to Beijing, making it more likely that she is North Korea’s heir apparent.

Great stuff as always from @myhlee.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com on significance of Kim Jong Un's bring your daughter to the parade. It's a fascinating and important phenomenon in terms of gauging North Korea's future. Appreciate being able to add my 2 cents

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

North Korea's Kim Jong Un to line up with the 'big boys' at China military parade Kim Jong Un's trip to Beijing this week offers the reclusive young North Korean leader an unprecedented opportunity to stand beside partners from China and Russia, gain implicit support for his banned nuclear weapons, and expand his diplomatic circle.

Appreciate you @joshjonsmith.bsky.social getting 'big boys' in the headline. All eyes on Beijing tomorrow for the Big Parade. Shared some thoughts w/ @reutersworld.feeds.directory

www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Train presumed to be transporting Kim Jong Un has pulled into Beijing, live footage shows. Kim, who rarely travels internationally, left Pyongyang yesterday in his transportation of choice — in a heavily armored, slow-moving train for 16-20 hours — for China's Victory Day military parade Wednesday.

In a first, Kim Jong Un will attend a gathering of leaders with both Putin and Xi When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits China next week for a military parade, it will be his debut at a gathering of foreign leaders for a rare meeting of China, Russia and North Korea.

Enjoyed talking w/ @npr.org Anthony Kuhn for his insightful preview of next week's Victory Parade in Beijing & surprise announcement that Kim Jong Un will attend. I'm thinking a lot about historical echoes & hope to write something along those lines...

www.npr.org/2025/08/29/g...

Hard not to see the timing of this announcement in light of South Korean president visiting Tokyo en route to White House and embracing trilateral US-Japan-ROK cooperation

Beijing had been trying to get ROK president Lee Jae-myung to attend. I've been arguing he should go, getting lots of pushback to that idea in my discussion in Seoul. He might regret he didn't say yes. Too late?

Opinion | Why Xi Jinping Is Courting Kim Jong-un (Published 2019)

Kim's attendance was not a widely expected development. It's his first visit to China since a flurry of four trips in 2018-19. First meeting in person with Xi since Xi's brief visit to Pyongyang in June 2019.
www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/o...

Hope I can write an epilogue to Journal of Asian Studies piece on the parade in 2015. h/t @jwassers.bsky.social

Back then, Kim sent his #2 who hid in a back row while ROK president Park Geunhye was VIP guest
jstor.org/stable/24738...

Kim Jong Un will be standing on the Tiananmen Rostrum next week alongside Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping for the military parade commemorating end of WWII
english.news.cn/20250828/38b...

You could say it was triage, establishing rapport with Trump AND with the DC natsec establishment on the same trip. But hard choices await in terms of words and deeds if Lee is serious about peacemaking, or even 'pacemaking', w/ Kim Jong Un.

IMHO Prez Lee will have to tell audiences like CSIS things they don't want to hear, hard truths about what progress with the DPRK will have to look like. It's early days, and there's a logic to reassuring the Ally on first trip, esp given the instability in the Alliance.

The inherent risk in a 'pragmatic' foreign policy is telling everyone what they want to hear, which, since everyone is listening to everything all the time, is not sustainable.