Russian strongman Vladimir Putin sent a letter to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un thanking him for a warm welcome in Pyongyang, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday, and celebrated the “unprecedentedly high level” of relations between their two countries.
Putin made a brief but significant trip to North Korea between June 19 and 20, his first visit to North Korea in 24 years. The highlight of his stop was the signing of what both sides are calling a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in which Moscow and Pyongyang agreed to take defensive action in the event that either country is attacked. The deal revives a military alliance that existed between the communist state and the former Soviet Union from 1961 that the modern Russian Federation had not yet restored.
The mutual defense treaty has alarmed the South Korean government, which has technically remained in a state of war with North Korea since 1950. The Korean War’s active hostilities ended in 1953 with an armistice agreement, but neither side surrendered or signed a peace treaty, so the Koreas – and their allies, America and China, are still in a state of war. Seoul expressed profound concern that Russia may involve itself in North Korean military activity and suggested that it could begin sending weapons to Ukraine in response.
In this undated photo provided on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, by South Korea Defense Ministry, North Korean soldiers work at an undisclosed location near the border area, as seen from a South Korean guard area. South Korean soldiers fired warning shots to repel North Korean soldiers who temporarily crossed the rivals’ land border Tuesday for the second time this month, South Korea’s military said. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)
Putin responded to that potential move last week saying arming Ukraine would be a “very big mistake.”
According to KCNA, Putin’s message to Kim Jong-un “expressed his sincerest thanks … for warmly welcoming him and the Russian delegation and according them heartfelt hospitality during their stay in the DPRK [North Korea].”
“He said that his recent state visit to the DPRK was of special significance as it raised the relations between Moscow and Pyongyang to an unprecedentedly high level of comprehensive strategic partnership,” the communist propaganda outlet paraphrased Putin as saying.
KCNA claimed that Putin also apparently invited Kim back to Russia.
“The message hoped Kim Jong Un would not forget that he is an honoured guest Russia always waits for,” the outlet relayed. “Sincerely wishing Kim Jong Un good health and success in his state activities, it hoped that everything would go well for him.”
In Russia, top Putin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday that strengthening ties with the North Korean regime would mean Russia would use its leverage at the United Nations to attempt to reverse sanctions on the rogue communist state. North Korea is currently under an unprecedentedly strict sanctions regime that Russia voted for on the U.N. Security Council in 2017 in response to its multiple illegal nuclear weapons tests. While North Korea has not conducted a known nuclear weapon test since that year, reports indicate that it has significantly grown its nuclear warhead arsenal in the seven years since.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, center, boards what is says a new nuclear attack submarine “Hero Kim Kun Ok” at an unspecified place in North Korea Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
“The issue of sanctions introduced in their time against North Korea by the resolution of the UN Security Council is out there,” Ushakov said, according to the Russian news agency Tass. “Probably, the time has come for the international community to think of how and what should be changed in this UN sanctions regime.”
Ushakov was speaking at a Russian political conference, the Primakov Readings, where he also celebrated Putin’s close relationship with Kim. Ushakov was part of the delegation that visited Pyongyang last week.
“The joint statement adopted by the Russian president and the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] chairman following the results of their negotiations sets forth ambitious goals and long-term guidelines of developing the entire range of bilateral ties,” Tass quoted Ushakov as saying, “which also stipulates further close coordination of our countries’ actions on the international scene.”
Ushakov confirmed that the treaty Putin and Kim signed in Pyongyang contained a military element, but appeared to downplay it, explaining, “[I]t sets forth guidelines … in particular, in the sphere of security, which does not rule out, as was commented by our president, the possibility of military-technical cooperation.”
While senior officials in the South Korean government immediately responded to Russia signing the treaty with North Korea, President Yoon Suk-yeol had not commented on it until Tuesday, when he gave an address on the anniversary of the onset of the Korean War. Yoon condemned the agreement as one of several “anachronistic actions that run counter to the progress of history” by North Korea.
“While we are racing on the path to freedom and prosperity, North Korea insists on a path of regression,” Yoon asserted, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily. Yoon also accused Russia of violating United Nations sanctions on North Korea and sent a message to Russia that the South Korean military “will maintain steadfast readiness and respond overwhelmingly and decisively to any provocations from the North to ensure that it will not dare to challenge South Korea under any circumstances.”
North Korea marked the anniversary of the Korean War by dumping over 350 balloons full of trash into South Korea, which Yoon called “despicable and irrational.” The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed that the balloons did not appear to contain any toxic materials and warned that it was preparing a loudspeaker broadcast of anti-communist materials into the North in response.
North Korea has dumped hundreds of balloons’ worth of garbage and feces into the South since May, a move the communist regime claims is a necessary response to independent groups in the South sending bottles full of rice and other humanitarian aid into the impoverished North.
An officer wearing protective gear collects the trash from a balloon presumably sent by North Korea, in Siheung, South Korea, Sunday, June 2, 2024. South Korea said Sunday it will take strong retaliatory steps against North Korea over its launch of trash-carrying balloons and other provocations on South Korea. (Hong Ki-won/Yonhap via AP)
Seoul responded to the last wave of balloons by installing loudspeakers on the border and broadcasting news, anti-communist messages, and music by the internationally popular South Korean band BTS – all outlawed content in the North. North Korea has virulently condemned the loudspeaker broadcasts; South Korea had not conducted them in a decade.
The use of music by BTS is politically significant as all but one member of the band are currently serving in the South Korean military; the last member, Jin, completed his service and was honorably discharged in mid-June.
