[Assessment of the Trilateral Cooperation between North Korea, China, and Russia] Deepened Division in Eurasian Politics: Enhanced San Francisco System and Strategic Resonance of Authoritarian States

► The security architecture is once again on the verge of being reconfigured in Asia with an emerging system of bilateral alliances with the United States at the center, reinforced by a number of minilateralisms and intensified political relations by China, Russia, North Korea, and even Iran.

► The U.S.-centered security architecture has changed dramatically from the bilateral, alliance-centric form. In the Biden administration, the Indo-Pacific architecture could be said to be "almost complete" characterized by five key features. 1) minilateralism has been strengthened by QUAD and AUKUS, 2) the U.S. seems to have high expectations for Japan's increased security efforts and the active involvement of the U.K. as an extraterritorial power, 3) it is developing its security and economic relations with Taiwan in a dignified manner, 4) the government has been working with other countries to promote economic security, and 5) the administration has made clear its policy of not limiting its partners to countries with which it shares political values.

► Closer relations between Russia and North Korea can be seen as an extremely significant change that will take place in 2023, yet the three countries including China do not currently have strong ties as a triangle, as China has not taken steps to strengthen ties with Russia and North Korea substantially.

► What is needed is an even tighter network of partnerships among countries that want to help stabilize the current international order, necessity to push to ensure that it is fully based on a free trade perspective that also benefits the countries of the region, and diplomatic efforts to ensure that the countries of the Global South are not attracted to the discourses and support of authoritarian states.