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their military integration. As we have seen above, despite a
long history of mistrust, strategic calculations are shifting.
They may not achieve high levels of cooperative planning or
operational interoperability, but we need to apply strategic
pressure to keep them from testing integration through
joint exercises. 31

Second, more aggressively, we should seek to pull apart North
Korea-China ties by using political psychological warfare,
information warfare, and cognitive warfare on a variety of
fronts. Implementing such long-term strategies requires a
more meticulous strategic approach involving:

• Information Separation: Information warfare now begins at
the data level, where gathering, processing, and disrupting
opponent’s data is essential. Applying advanced military
technologies faster than the opponent in the technological
competition is a key disruption factor. Preventing
miscalculations and disrupting shared perceptions are
crucial by preventing information sharing between North
Korea and China.

• Spatial Separation: Although complete dominance
throughout the certain space is unattainable, it is imperative
to secure access points in emerging strategic domains such
as cyberspace and space through partnerships and alliances.

31 Kim Youngjun, “Will North Korea Join Russia and China in a Combined Military Exercise? A Game Changer
for Northeast Asian Security Architecture,” The Korean Journal of Security Affairs, Vol.28, No.1 (2023).

Chapter Two : North Korea’s Nuclear Threat and China’s Backing for North Korea 45