Russia and North Korea Sign New Pact
New Pact Increases Nuclear Risks in East Asia
This article covers the recent defense pact signed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, highlighting the reasons behind the timing of the agreement and its potential implications. It also delves into the significance of the pact in terms of global alliances, particularly related to Ukraine, China, and the United States.
Putin and Kim signed a new defense pact, symbolizing a growing closeness between Russia and North Korea. With Russia increasing running out of options, North Korea respresents an important source of ammunition and potentially a supply of soldiers from North Korea. This must surely alarm Ukraine and the West. In response to the news, South Korea stated that it could send weapons to Ukraine.
The question is what does Kim Jong Un get in return?
Evidence exists that Russia has helped with the nuclear missle program and this is probably on top of Kim’s agenda. Thus, the pact will lead to an enhancement of North Korea’s WMD capabilities with Russian assistance. In addtion, recent news about Putin’s remarks on potentially supplying weapons to North Korea in response to Western actions in Ukraine have caused concern in the US.
Another provication would be to supply advanced military capabilities from Russia, including fighter aircraft and ballistic missile technology.
Moreover, the pact may also have economic implications, especially in terms of energy cooperation between Russia and North Korea. The two countries could potentially collaborate on energy projects, further strengthening their partnership and economic ties. This is already happening with Russian oil tankers sending oil to North Korea and there would be no way for the international community to prevent oil shipped through the Russian-North Korean border.
Implications for South Korea, Japan, US and China
The pact further cements Russia’s shift towards aligning with China, Iran, and North Korea against the West. This has important implications for the region.
For South Korea and Japan, this might result in both counties seeking nuclear weapons and this would certainly alarm China. In this regard, all three countries are in alignment about further development of the North Korea nuclear program. In short, China is very worried this could result in a change in policy for both the Japanese and South Koreans. Both countries are under the US nuclear umbrella but in an increasingly multi-polar world, policies could change.
In addition, China is likely not to happy about this development since North Korea is playing a game of shifting relationships between the Chinese and Russians. By strenghening the relationship with Russia, North Korea is seeking to extract more resources from China.
We should expect that tensions will rise in the area with North Korea becoming bolder. Thus expect to see more nuclear tests including missle launches to show their military capability against the the alliance – US, Japan and South Korea.
In response, Japan has indicated an increase in its military budget they have moved closer in increasing bilateral ties with South Korea. In addition, both countries along with the US have strengthened their trilateral alliance with greater intelligence sharing and military exercises.