North Korea Could Attack South Korea if China Invades Taiwan: Report

North Korea could use a Chinese communist invasion of Taiwan to launch its own assault on South Korea, according to a new report.

The United States will need to help South Korea better integrate into bilateral and minilateral agreements to deter such a threat, says a report published by The Center for a New American Security think tank.

“Washington has declared China to be the only country with both the intent to reshape the regional and global order and the power across every dimension to do it,” the report says.

“In South Korea… the policy debate about China is likewise growing in importance and urgency, and potentially shifting away from legacy paradigms that prioritized partnership and economic engagement with Beijing and downplayed geopolitical differences.”

Central to this break with longstanding policy is South Korea’s fear of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aggression towards Taiwan and other powers in the Indo-Pacific, which South Korea sees as a increasingly destabilizing force, the report says.

Importantly, if the CCP were to invade Taiwan and draw the United States and all its resources into the conflict, the report says, North Korea could capitalize on America’s distraction and launch an attack on South Korea.

“China’s military assertiveness elsewhere in Asia, particularly mounting pressure on Taiwan, also drives [South Korean] unease about Beijing’s ambitions to revise the regional order,” the report says.