US allies and rivals in Asia gauge fallout from war in Middle East

As war spreads across the Middle East, US rivals and allies in Asia are preparing for the consequences, which include possible economic shock and long-term security threats.

- By Kim Tong-Hyung The Associated Press

JAPANESE Prime Minister Sanae Taichi gestures as US President Donald Trump delivers his speech during their visit to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington at the US Navy's Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on Oct. 28, 2025.

(AP/EUGENE HOSHIKO)

Here’s a look at how the fighting in the Middle East is impacting the Koreas, Japan and China.

North Korea

AT a major political conference last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Uninsisted the country’s decades-long pursuit of nuclear weapons was the “correct” choice, despite crippling isolation and scarce resources.

The US-Israeli attacks on Iran will only reinforce that belief.

North Korea's leadership likely watched uneasily as the strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader. The attack followed a US operation in January that captured Venezuelan President Nicol4s Maduro.

Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the attacks on Iran as illegal and a “most despicable” violation of sovereignty. Notably, it didn’t mention the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Similar strikes to take out North Korea’s leadership would be far riskier and less likely to succeed, said Hong Min, an analyst at South Korea’s Institute for National Unification.

Unlike Iran, North Korea has followed through on its nuclear ambitions. Its expansive arsenal contains dozens of warheads, with a range of delivery systems threatening Asian US allies and intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching the US mainland. It would be difficult to eliminate North Korea’s capabilities in a single wave of preemptive strikes, and would leave open the possibility that surviving systems could be used to attack targets in South Korea, Japan or even America.