Defiant Putin/ Russia "deepens" relations with North Korea

2024-06-17 07:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Defiant Putin/ Russia "deepens" relations with North Korea

Vladimir Putin, photo courtesy of the BBC

For months, Russia watchers have known that President Vladimir Putin was going to North Korea.

After Kim Jong Un's big green bullet train rolled around Russia's Far East last year, the North Korean leader invited Putin to visit. That invitation was duly accepted.

But that long-awaited visit is now said to be just days away. South Korean sources suggest it could take place on Tuesday.

The Kremlin insists that these details will come in due course.

But why does it matter and why now?

First, there is the curiosity that it would be only Putin's second time in North Korea, the first being in 2000 at the start of his presidential career, when Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, was still supreme leader. .

But beyond that, this is a relationship that has now moved from mutual pleasure to mutual benefit and has worried the West.

The Kremlin has said there is room for "very deep relations" between Russia and North Korea, and while he said this should not worry anyone, he advised those thinking of challenging the developing ties to think again.

There has been much speculation about what both sides want from each other. And it seems to be about security of supply.

Russia will likely need ammunition, construction workers and even volunteers to go to the front lines in Ukraine, says political scientist and Putin ally Sergei Markov.

In response, Pyongyang could receive Russian products as well as technological assistance for military purposes, including its long-range missile program, to eventually be within striking distance of the US, Markov added.

A recent Bloomberg report, citing South Korea's defense ministry, suggests that North Korea has sent nearly five million artillery shells to Russia.

Finding a partner who shares a keen disdain for sanctions and the West, and therefore a partner willing to trade, is a big selling point for Russia.

After all, Russia and North Korea are the two most sanctioned countries in the world, North Korea for developing nuclear weapons and launching a series of ballistic missile tests.

Earlier this year, Moscow dealt sanctions against Pyongyang a major blow by vetoing a UN Security Council resolution to extend the panel overseeing them.

There may even be a genuine friendship between the two leaders, albeit cautious and business-like. In February, Putin presented Kim with a luxury Russian limousine.

Kim said North Korea is an "invincible war partner" with Russia in a recent message to President Putin.

But it could just be business and lack of other options./ CNA