Russian President Vladimir V. Putin is scheduled to visit North Korea this week and hold his second meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un in nine months. The two countries are deepening their military relationship to support Putin’s war in Ukraine with North Korean weapons. .
President Putin last visited North Korea in 2000, when he became the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit North Korea. This week’s visit, which begins Tuesday, highlights North Korea’s growing strategic importance to Putin, particularly its ability to supply much-needed conventional weapons for the war in Ukraine.
Chairman Kim met President Putin in the Russian Far East in September last year and opened a new era in relations between the two countries.
For Mr. Kim, it was a rare moment when his country, abandoned by the West, was seen as an ally. For Russia, this means strengthening ties with a country that provides much-needed military supplies for the war in Ukraine.
The two countries announced the two-day visit on Monday. The Kremlin announced, “President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to pay a state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on June 18-19 at the invitation of Chairman Kim Jong-un.”
Days before Putin arrived in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, the Kremlin pledged to increase cooperation with North Korea “in all fields.”
Pyongyang and Moscow were allies during the Cold War, but relations cooled after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But over the past few years, they have grown closer again as a result of their shared hostility toward the United States, namely Russia over its war with Ukraine and North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.
As the war in Ukraine dragged on, Russia found itself in urgent need of conventional weapons, especially artillery shells. North Korea has a lot to offer. In return, Mr. Kim wants to upgrade his weapons systems, and Russia is sharing advanced military technology and other assistance.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, North Korea has sent thousands of containers worth of military supplies to Russia, U.S. and South Korean officials said. Moscow reciprocated by sending thousands of containers containing economic and other aid, they say.
In the weeks leading up to Putin’s visit, Chairman Kim showed off what he would propose to Putin. During a visit to a military factory last month, he praised increased production and showed off warehouses full of short-range ballistic missiles. It is similar to the North Korean missiles that Washington says Russia has launched against Ukraine.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang deny dealing in arms, which is banned under UN sanctions. But at the G7 summit in Italy last week, G7 leaders condemned in the strongest terms possible the growing military cooperation between the two countries, including North Korea’s ballistic missile exports and Russia’s use of ballistic missiles against Ukraine.
National Security Office Director Jang Ho-jin said in an interview with Yonhap News TV last weekend, “President Putin’s trip means that Russia is in desperate need of North Korean weapons due to the war in Ukraine.” “North Korea will try to get as much in return as possible because the situation looks favorable to them.”
Jang said South Korea warned Moscow ahead of Putin’s visit that “certain lines should not be crossed.” He did not elaborate. But some analysts in South Korea have speculated that during Putin’s visit, North Korea may seek Russian help to improve its nuclear weapons capabilities and attempt to restore its Cold War-era military alliance with Moscow.
Things looked bleak for Kim until the war in Ukraine gave him his chance.
For years, his country’s economy has been devastated by sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council to curb his nuclear weapons program. Kim’s attempt to lift sanctions collapsed in 2019 when direct diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump ended without an agreement.
Mr Kim’s answer was to double down on his nuclear weapons program while also envisioning a ‘new Cold War’ in which North Korea hoped to increase its strategic value to China and Russia in Northeast Asia while the United States, Japan and South Korea expanded. Their own military cooperation.
North Korea was one of the few countries to publicly support President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In return, President Putin invited Chairman Kim to Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East last year, suggesting that Russia could help North Korea launch a satellite. Mr. Kim wants his satellites to better monitor his military targets, but he has had trouble getting his targets into orbit.
During his visit to Russia last year, Kim toured the country’s sensitive space and military facilities, and at one point even toasted the country’s “holy struggle” against the West’s “evil hordes” with Putin.
Russia is prohibited from arming North Korea with military equipment under UN agreements, but the decision to welcome Kim to the high-tech facility that manufactures rockets and fighter jets could provide Russia with the kind of technology North Korea has long coveted. emphasized its capabilities. Confrontation with the United States and its allies.
Facing an onslaught of international pressure over his invasion of Ukraine, Putin has strengthened ties with America’s adversaries around the world, including Iran, North Korea and Syria, challenging Washington outside of Europe.
Close cooperation between North Korea and Moscow has security implications for the United States and its allies. Using North Korean missiles on the Ukraine battlefield could provide North Korea with valuable data on how their missiles perform against Western missile defense systems, defense experts said.
The close relationship is already creating a gaping hole in international efforts to suppress Kim’s ability to earn hard currency through illicit activities.
Last March, North Korean TV showed Chairman Kim and his daughter riding in a Russian-made Aurus limousine gifted by President Putin despite a ban on exports of luxury goods to Pyongyang. State-sponsored North Korean hackers are increasingly using Russian cryptocurrency exchanges to launder stolen funds. Last month, the White House revealed that Russia was supplying North Korea with refined oil that exceeded Security Council limits.
South Korean analysts also worry that in return for providing North Korean weapons, Russia could allow more North Korean migrant workers to work in Russia and earn Kim much-needed cash.
Importing such workers from North Korea is prohibited by Security Council resolutions. But this year Moscow made it easier to flout the resolution by using its veto at the council to disband a UN panel of experts that had been monitoring North Korea’s compliance with international sanctions.
Paul Sonne He contributed reporting from Berlin.
