Issue A new global security environment shaped by climate, demography, technology rivalry and nuclear risk

Summary

The report stresses that global diplomacy, security and economic conditions are shifting at the same time under Putin's fifth term and Trump's second, with sharper great-power geopolitics, weaker globalization and deglobalization, and rising uncertainty. Independent of the new US administration, the world already faces climate pressure, changing global demographics and accelerating rivalry over AI and other frontier technologies. Cross-border terrorism, geopolitical upheaval and a change in the US approach to alliances add to the strain. The authors also point to a Non-Proliferation Treaty regime under strong challenge, the practical limits of responses to the behavior of nuclear-armed states and transnational privately owned infrastructure that is creating a security structure unlike the past. Heavy pressure on how international trade and technology exchange are conducted completes a picture in which Korea must plan its northern strategy.