In 1948, North Korea established its independence as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). From 1910-1945, all of Korea was ruled by Japan. Guerrilla resistance groups in the north fought against Japan during WWII, serving as an ally to China and parts of South East Asia. When Japan surrendered after WWII, one of the prominent Communist guerrilla fighters, Kim Il-sung, became the first leader of North Korea.

Initially, Korea was divided up post-WWII by the former Soviet Union and the United States: the Russians claiming the northern half of Korea and the U.S. claiming the southern half. Negotiations failed, leading to the Korean War. Despite the war being most devastating to North Korea, they established their independence, as well as deep animosity towards the United States.

North Korea recently formed an alliance with Russia to fight the war in Ukraine. Both nations have a rather intimidating arsenal of nuclear weapons. North Korea’s committed disgust towards the United States and its allies does not bode too well if the war in Ukraine escalates. Their biggest allies are, not surprisingly, Russia and China.

The one date that haunts me is May 21, 2023. Here is the transit chart for North Korea on that day.

Pluto will have ingressed to 0 degrees of Aquarius in North Korea’s 2nd house of finances. Transiting Pluto will be in direct opposition to transiting Mars at 0 degrees of Leo. Whenever we see transiting Mars and Pluto forming a hard aspect with each other (conjunction, square or opposition), extreme tension is highlighted.

Transiting Mars will also be forming a conjunction with North Korea’s natal Venus at 0 degrees of Leo in the 8th house of death and shared resources. Mars rules action/aggression; Venus rules relationships and money.

The last transiting planet at 0 degrees will be Jupiter at 0 degrees of Taurus. This will be within 3 degrees of the transiting north node, which happens to also be within 3 degrees of the natal North Korean north node. With this happening in the 5th house of games and competition, both will oppose natal Mars at 3 degrees of Scorpio in conjunction with the transiting south node. This will be happening in the 11th house of group alliances.

Not only do these tight transiting aspects signify tension, but this will be a nodal return for North Korea, which happens roughly every 18.5 years. The transiting nodes return to the same position in 18.5 year cycles, reintroducing similar themes. The last time this happened would have been 2004 for North Korea.

2004 was the year that Pyongyang officials announced they were disinterested in being involved in the Nuclear peace negotiations (Six-Party Talks) between the United States, Japan, Russia, China and South Korea. Particularly hostile was the rhetoric between the U.S. and North Korea at that time.

In July of 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the North Korea Human Rights Act, declaring assistance for North Korean refugees. This certainly did not encourage healthy relations between the U.S. and North Korea but rather made them worse. North Korea continually called out the U.S. for hypocrisy, since it was known that secret nuclear experiments were being conducted in South Korea under the umbrella of U.S. assistance.

Back to May 21, 2023. Uranus will be transiting the 6th house of North Korea’s chart at 19 degrees Taurus. This points to stress in work and daily life; potentially health issues. This will oppose North Korea’s natal Chiron in the 12th house at 20 degrees Scorpio. Hard to say how this will play out, but it certainly adds to the stress of the malefic alignments.

Transiting Pluto at 0 degrees Aquarius will also be quincunx North Korea’s natal Uranus at 0 degrees of Cancer. Since this will be happening between the 2nd and 7th houses, financial relationships will be strained. Uranus-Pluto in hard aspect is much more stressful with the square or opposition, but the quincunx is also pretty tense.

The same aspect will be happening with North Korea’s natal Saturn and transiting Neptune at 28 degrees of Leo and 27 degrees of Pisces, respectively. The potential for knee jerk reactions against authority will be high.  In general, these malefic planet alignments, particularly involving the nodal axis, point to impulsivity- not well thought out acts of diplomacy.

Hopefully nothing all that explosive will happen on May 21, 2023, but I do feel obligated to point out the possibility. North Korea certainly has a history of maintaining a defensive stance. Arguably, this is the only way you maintain independence, which was hard won. Nations with powerful nuclear capabilities provoking one another has been a concern since the 1980s, so this isn’t exactly a new threat; however, with so many issues at a tipping point, it wouldn’t be surprising if something finally snaps.