Current and former South Korean officials highlighted the “interconnectedness” of North Korean nuclear threats and other global security challenges like Hamas’ recent attack on Israel, speaking at a defense forum in Seoul.

Citing the impact of the Ukraine conflict’s implications on the global economy, as well as Hamas’ “indiscriminate attack” followed by Israel’s “massive counterattack,” former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned in a speech at the Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) 2023 that the world is increasingly moving into a period of “crisis.”

He criticized Pyongyang for continuing to advance its nuclear program “while ignoring people’s livelihoods,”