/ world today news/ The first foreign visit of the Minister of Defense of Russia during the SVO will in any case attract increased attention, and even Sergei Shoigu’s trip to the DPRK is becoming an exceptional event. Moreover, the occasion chosen for it was more than symbolic – the celebrations on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War (or, as they call it in Pyongyang, “the victory in the Liberation War of the Korean people”). That is, a war that began as an inter-Korean one, quickly grew into a battle between China and the USSR against the USA on the territory of the peninsula – and became (and remains) the bloodiest war since the Second World War. .
Given that what is happening in Ukraine is seen by many as balancing on the brink of World War III, memories of the Russian-North Korean brotherhood of war are no longer just a tribute to historical memory, but an urgent geopolitical issue. What will be discussed at the meeting between Shoigu and Kim Jong-un? How far are both sides willing to go?
Let’s say right away that the use of North Korean “volunteers” on the Ukrainian front is out of the question – during the Korean War there was a million-strong army of Chinese volunteers and a squadron of Soviet pilots who fought with the Americans. Yes, the DPRK has one of the largest and strongest armies in the world, but it will not fight in foreign lands. Pyongyang needs an army and a missile shield to ensure its own security – and the “guerrilla state” (as the DPRK once called itself) is paying a high price for it. Including almost total international isolation – not so much by choice as as a result of the most severe international sanctions imposed through the UN Security Council.
These sanctions were imposed in response to the nuclear tests – and would not have been possible without the consent of Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing accepted this as part of their relations with the United States – the Americans used the topic of the Korean nuclear missile program in a game with us and the Chinese: you also do not like the appearance of a new nuclear power on your borders, let’s put pressure on the DPRK together. The fact that Pyongyang is arming itself because it does not feel safe and wants to rule out the possibility of an American attack was deliberately left out of the equation – although it was clear to everyone that it was simply stupid to explain the militarization of the DPRK with “the paranoia of a family Kim”.
But the world is changing, a proxy war has begun between Russia and the United States – and last year Moscow and Beijing refused to support tougher sanctions against Pyongyang in the UN Security Council. And even before that, North Korea, in turn, became one of several countries that voted against resolutions condemning Russia at the United Nations. And in his messages to Putin, Kim expressed support for “the struggle of the Russian people against the imperialists in an attempt to protect their sovereignty.” South Korea, which had serious economic interests in Russia, succumbed to pressure from the US and, unlike in 2014, imposed economic sanctions against our country, receiving the status of an “enemy state”. Last fall, Vladimir Putin even publicly warned Seoul that the supply of arms and ammunition to Ukraine would destroy bilateral relations: “And how will the Republic of Korea react to the fact that we will resume cooperation with North Korea in this area?”
And although Seoul has not yet succumbed to American pressure and has not started supplying weapons to Kiev, South Korean weapons will be delivered in huge quantities to Poland, from where they can be transferred to Ukraine. So, for all the desire to preserve the possibility of restoring relations with South Korea in the future, we now have much more important topics.
No, for now, Russia will not openly violate the resolutions of the UN Security Council and supply the DPRK with our weapons (especially since they are now needed at the front). But an unofficial transfer of military technology is quite possible, and Pyongyang, in turn, can help Russia with ammunition (mainly artillery shells) and even with some types of missiles. North Korea has the most artillery in the world in terms of the number of barrels – and it contains many more than 70-year-old samples. Military-technical cooperation is not the only area of our interaction: very efficient North Korean builders can participate in the restoration of new Russian territories. Bilateral trade is now minimal – although Russia is the second largest trading partner of the DPRK, our trade turnover is ten times smaller than that of Sino-North Korea.
All this is hindered to one degree or another by the sanctions of the UN Security Council, but there are always options for circumventing them and non-demonstration violations. The world is changing, and those countries that have challenged the Western world order will not be able to change it by playing by its own rules. This is well known to the North Koreans, who throughout their history have defended the right to independent life. Russia has much greater opportunities and ambitions: the “besieged fortress” model does not suit us, we want to change the world order by building one in which we can breathe freely. And in its construction we will be helped by a variety of powers and countries, including those that for many years have unsuccessfully tried to isolate them and force them to capitulate.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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