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“Shortly after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin wrote off most of North Korea’s $11 billion debt to Russia.” Brian Whitmore, RFERL, April 14, 2017: https://www.rferl.org/a/the-morning-vertical-august-14-2017/28675595.html https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/08/15/the-power-vertical-north-korea-client-state-of-russia/ The expanding Russian Empire reached Korea’s border in 1860 and “Korea’s ice-free ports fronting the Sea of Japan were especially coveted by the Russians“. From its creation, after World War II, North Korea was a client state of Russia-USSR and apparently is currently a client state of Russia. https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/korean-history-shaped-by-three-powers-china-japan-and-russia/


“Republic of Korea and U.S. Soldiers at the demilitarized zone in South Korea facing North Korea on Nov. 11, 2012. DOD photo by D. Myles Cullen”

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korean troops crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) of the Demilitarized Military Zone (DMZ). They state that it appeared to be accidentally: “Some 20-30 North Korean troops crossed the military demarcation line, or MDL, in the center section of the DMZ at 8:30 a.m., the JCS said in a message to reporters. The South Korean military broadcast warning messages and fired warning shots, prompting the North Korean soldiers to return to their side of the border, the JCS said…”. See: “North Korean soldiers briefly cross DMZ border as South fires warning shots” by Thomas Maresca, UPI https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/north-korean-soldiers-briefly-cross-dmz-border-as-south-fires-warning-shots/ar-BB1opDrK “In the Armistice Agreement of 27 July 1953, the DMZ was created as each side agreed to move their troops back 2,000 m (1.2 miles) from the front line, creating a buffer zone 4 km (2.5 mi) wide. The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) goes through the center of the DMZ and indicates where the front was when the agreement was signed. Owing to this theoretical stalemate, and genuine hostility between the North and the South, large numbers of troops are stationed along both sides of the line, each side guarding against potential aggression from the other side, even 70 years after its establishment. The armistice agreement explains exactly how many military personnel and what kind of weapons are allowed in the DMZ. Soldiers from both sides may patrol inside the DMZ, but they may not cross the MDL…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone

North Korea was a creation of the Kremlin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Il_Sung

The article reports that he just arrived: “Russia’s Putin arrives in North Korea for rare trip as anti-West alignment deepens” By Simone McCarthy and Anna Chernova, CNN Updated 1:58 PM EDT, Tue June 18, 2024 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/18/asia/north-korea-russia-putin-visit-intl-hnk/index.html

“President Putin’s visit to North Korea for the first time in 24 years… Prospects of signing a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement’
2024.6.18 By Kim Hwan-yong, VOA (based on translation from Korean VOA): https://www.voakorea.com/a/7660318.html
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits North Korea on the night of the 18th.
President Putin’s visit to North Korea, which will take place in the form of a state visit for two days until the 19th, is the first time in 24 years since July 2000.

President Putin will arrive in Pyongyang in the evening after visiting Yakutsk, the capital and the largest city of the Far East region of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), on the same day.

President Putin is also planning to visit Vietnam after finishing the main schedule related to his visit to North Korea on the 19th, so he is expected to actually stay in North Korea for less than 24 hours.

This is the third time that President Putin and North Korean State Council Chairman Kim Jong-un have met in person, including the Vladimir Summit in Russia in April 2019. It’s also the first visit in nine months since the North Korean-Russia summit with Chairman Kim at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East in September last year. A foreign summit visit to North Korea is the first time since North Korea closed its border in 2020 due to the new coronavirus outbreak.

Through this visit, President Putin is expected to upgrade North Korea-Russian relations by signing a comprehensive strategic partner agreement with Chairman Kim.

“I accept the Russian Ministry’s proposal to conclude a comprehensive strategic partner relationship agreement between Russia and North Korea,” Putin said in a presidential decree document published on the Russian law website on the 18th. It ordered the conclusion of a comprehensive strategic partner agreement with North Korea.

As a result, both North Korea and Russia are expected to sign the agreement during President Putin’s visit to North Korea.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the agreement would replace the existing documents signed between North Korea, stressing that “of course, it will follow all the basic principles of international law, have no provocative nature, and will not directly target any country.”

The South Korean government is keen on whether the upgrading of North Korea-Russian relations means strengthening military cooperation.

It is said that the South Korean government is not excluding the possibility of North Korea agreeing on military security cooperation or signing a treaty at a level close to ‘automatic military intervention’ on the occasion of President Putin’s visit to North Korea.

From the briefing remarks on the 18th by South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lim Soo-seok: “It is our government’s firm position that cooperation between Russia and North Korea should not be conducted in a way that violates UN Security Council resolutions or impedes peace and stability in the relation. In addition, we have clearly conveyed this position to the Russian side.”

The level of Russia’s foreign relations is largely divided into good relations, cooperation, strategic partnership, and strategic alliance.

In February 2000, when Kim Jong-il was chairman of the National Defense Commission, he signed the ‘Treaty on Friendship and Goodwill Cooperation’. This time, if the ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement’ is signed, the relationship between the two countries will be greatly upgraded.

In an article titled “Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: A Tradition of Friendship and Cooperation Continuing Solidarity,” in the 18th issue of the North Korean Labor Party’s Journal ‘Labor Newspaper’ ahead of his visit to North Korea, Putin said, “We will raise bilateral cooperation to a higher level through joint efforts.” President Putin also emphasized that he will continue to support North Korea, saying, “We are willing to cooperate closely to make international relations more democratic and stable.” To this end, it said that it is also planning to build an equal and inseparable safety structure in Eurasia, develop humanitarian cooperation, revitalize scientific activities between North Korea’s higher education institutions, and promote mutual tourism travel culture and educational youth and physical education exchange.

Experts believe that these will be included in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, which is expected to be signed by President Putin and Chairman Kim Jong-un.

Dr. Han-Beom Cho of the Institute for Unification, a national research institute under the South Korean government, said that President Putin’s comments did not mention cooperation in the field of military security with North Korea, suggesting that cooperation in the field of military security will be very limited even if North Korea-Russian relations are upgraded
(…)
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korea at Ewha Womans University, said in an interview with major news companies around the world that President Putin said that there is an implicit agreement between the two countries that they will not cross the line to express gratitude for South Korea for not providing weapons to Ukraine. In addition, the South Korean government warned Russia’s advanced military technology or the provision of weapons to North Korea, or the upgrade of alliance-level relations such as automatic military intervention in the case of an emergency as a ‘red line’, so Russia has no choice but to be cautious about military cooperation with North Korea.

Dr. Jang Yong-seok of the Institute for Unification and Peace at Seoul National University said that President Putin’s reference to ‘the construction of an equal and inseparable safety structure in Eurasia’ may have suggested security cooperation with North Korea. Dr. Jang predicted that President Putin would likely include a relevant agreement with North Korea in the agreement, with a framework for regional multi-party security cooperation that encompasses the Eurasian area in mind against U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. Dr. Jang Yong-seok: “I don’t think it’s likely to go out as an alliance treaty that includes automatic military intervention provisions…”

President Putin also said in a report on the Labor Daily that North Korea and “we will develop a trade and mutual payment system that is not under the control of the West and jointly oppose unilateral illegal restrictions.”

This is interpreted to mean that Russia and North Korea, which are subject to international financial sanctions, will have their own trade and payment systems so that they will not be affected by the U.S.-centered international financial system and the dollar, the reserve currency.

Ushakov, meanwhile, revealed President Putin’s visit to North Korea without mentioning a specific time. President Putin and Chairman Kim will begin talks after an official welcome ceremony, an introduction to the delegations from both sides, the chairperson’s chair, and a photo shoot, according to Ushakov’s aides. The talks will take place in a variety of forms, including expanded-form talks and informal talks. After the meeting, President Putin and Chairman Kim will sign a joint document and announce it to the media. Ushakov said President Putin and Chairman Kim will continue the conversation at a one-on-one informal meeting that combines a walk and tea ceremony to discuss “the most important and sensitive issues.” Ushakov said informal talks are allocated a long time and members of the delegations from both sides may participate if needed.

Professor Park Won-gon analyzed that the disclosure of the informal talks between North Korea and North Korea summit in advance was due to the aim of internal and external propaganda effects. Professor Park said that since the summit in September last year, North Korea has shown various consultations and multi-faceted close contact, including high-ranking people, and that the North Korea leader’s advance disclosure that the North Korean leader will hold informal consultations seems to be intended to show off the foreign relations between the two countries and to use North Korea as propaganda materials for internal solidarity: “Rather than a real agreement, it shows the strength of the symbolic friendship, friendship, cooperation, and close contact between the two leaders of the two countries. From Kim Jong-un’s point of view, Putin’s going to Pyongyang is a kind of gift. He’ll make the most of it and use it for their propaganda. It includes such closed talks.”

Dr. Jang Yong-seok said the informal talks between North Korea and Russian summits could be a place for both sides to share awareness of the situation, deepen strategic communication, and discuss joint countermeasures in a situation on the anti-US front.

President Putin plans to watch a performance prepared by the North Korean side during his visit to North Korea and dedicate flowers to the Liberation Tower to commemorate the former Soviet forces who were killed during the Korean War.

President Putin will leave Pyongyang on the 19th and visit Vietnam.
This is Hwan-yong Kim from VOA News in Seoul”
Based on unofficial translation for general informational purposes and may not be exact so all quotes should be checked, where there is doubt-need for exact translation. Some quotations removed due to lack of clarity in meaning and replaced by (…).
Original in Korean found here: https://www.voakorea.com/a/7660318.html

Originals in English:
“Putin to arrive in North Korea, with new treaty in focus
June 18, 2024 6:53 AM By William Gallo, VOA
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — 
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to arrive Tuesday in North Korea, where he is expected to sign a treaty outlining Moscow’s expanded cooperation with Pyongyang, according to Russian state media.

Putin has decided to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his two-day visit, reported the Russian news agency TASS.

The report provided no details of the document, though earlier the agency quoted a Putin foreign policy aide as saying it would likely cover defense matters.

Earlier Tuesday, Putin vowed to work with North Korea to counter sanctions as both countries expand their “many-sided partnership,” according to a letter published in North Korean state media.

SEE ALSO: Russia’s Putin plans to arrive in North Korea Tuesday https://www.voanews.com/a/north-korea-says-russian-president-putin-will-arrive-tuesday-/7658792.html

In the letter, Putin said the two countries would develop trade mechanisms “not controlled by the West” and would “jointly oppose illegitimate unilateral restrictions.”

Russia is a long-time supporter of North Korea. Though ties have sometimes been rocky, both countries recently found more reasons to work together, especially following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. officials say North Korea has provided Russia with 11,000 containers of munitions, as well as ballistic missiles, for use in the Ukraine battlefield. Both North Korea and Russia deny such weapons deals even though a growing number of independent observers have documented North Korean weapons being used against Ukrainian forces.

“Moscow and Pyongyang will likely continue to deny violations of international law but have notably shifted from hiding their illicit activities to flaunting their cooperation,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Defense ties

U.S. officials have expressed concerns that Russia may provide advanced weapons or other help related to North Korea’s nuclear program.
SEE ALSO: Washington, Seoul sound alarm over Putin’s visit to Pyongyang https://www.voanews.com/a/washington-seoul-sound-alarm-over-putin-s-visit-to-pyongyang/7660049.html

Such worries intensified last September when Kim inspected numerous advanced Russian weapons while touring several military sites in eastern Russia, including a modern space launch facility.

Though North Korea’s latest satellite launches showed signs of Russian assistance, analysts debate how far defense cooperation would go, noting that Russia does not often share its most advanced military technology.

“These states do not share durable alliance institutions and values; they are only weakly bound together by resistance to the enforcement of international laws and norms,” said Easley.

Treaty history

Analysts will closely parse the language of any new treaty signed by Putin and Kim.
Russia currently has comprehensive strategic partnerships with countries including Vietnam, Mongolia, and some Central Asian nations.

While such documents form the basis for Russia’s “highest type of interstate relations,” they do not amount to alliance treaties, observed former Russian diplomat Georgy Toloraya. “I don’t think that this treaty would include a clause which directly calls for military assistance, but it will certainly give room to imagine a situation where this could be provided,” he said in an interview with VOA.

In 1961, North Korea and the Soviet Union signed a friendship and mutual assistance treaty that included a provision for automatic military intervention in emergencies.

That deal was abolished after the Soviet Union’s collapse. The two countries signed a new treaty in 2000, but it focused on economic rather than military matters.

According to Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, the treaty being negotiated by Kim and Putin would replace all other bilateral treaties.

Obstacles

If Putin’s letter is any indication, his visit will also likely focus on expanding economic ties, including by ramping up exchanges related to education, culture, and tourism.

However, this plan faces obstacles due to United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibit a wide range of economic engagement with North Korea.

While Russia says it no longer supports U.N. sanctions on North Korea, it has not formally announced that it will stop observing them.

Instead, Russia may search for what it sees as loopholes that facilitate cooperation even in areas that are subject to U.N. sanctions, such as North Korean laborers earning income abroad.

For instance, North Korean IT specialists could work remotely from their home country without technically receiving income abroad, said Toloraya, a former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts, which was meant to monitor enforcement of the North Korea sanctions.

Russia earlier this year effectively abolished the U.N. panel – one of its boldest steps to unilaterally degrade the U.N. sanctions regime it once supported.

What North Korea wants

For Kim, Putin’s visit is meant to provide a boost in domestic legitimacy, especially amid North Korea’s increasingly public frictions with its main economic backer China, said Kim Gunn, who earlier this year stepped down as South Korea’s top nuclear envoy.

“North Koreans feel nervous about that, because their economy is 99% dependent on China,” said Kim, who is now a member of South Korea’s National Assembly. “Kim Jong Un’s answer is to say, ‘Don’t worry, we still have Russia.”

In the lawmaker’s view, Kim Jong Un also likely hopes that Putin’s visit will give him leverage with Chinese President Xi Jinping, creating a situation where both Russia and China vie for North Korea’s favor.

But, Kim Gunn added, the new Russia-North Korea relationship is likely a “marriage of convenience,” rather than a restoration of Soviet-era ties. “Russia is not the former Soviet Union,” he said. “And Russia is at war in Ukraine – they are pouring all their energy into this war. There’s not so much room for Russia to do anything with North Korea.” https://www.voanews.com/a/putin-to-arrive-in-north-korea-with-new-treaty-in-focus/7660253.html Russia is the former Soviet Union mixed with Nazi Germany, i.e. National Bolshevik (“NazBol”), which was the name of a party founded by Russian ideologue nicknamed “Putin’s brain”, Alexander Dugin. Recall that Hitler and Stalin were allies from 1939-41.

“Analysts see signs of strain in North Korea-China ties”https://www.voanews.com/a/analysts-see-signs-of-strain-in-north-korea-china-ties/7634822.html

“Washington, Seoul sound alarm over Putin’s visit to Pyongyang
June 17, 2024 8:23 PM By Christy Lee, VOA
WASHINGTON — 
Washington and Seoul have expressed alarm about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit to Pyongyang, while Beijing says it has no intention of interfering with the cooperation between Russia and North Korea.

Putin will pay a state visit to North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, the North’s official KCNA news agency announced on Monday. https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1718694700-688954707/anniversary-of-chairman-kim-jong-ils-start-of-work-at-c-c-wpk-marked/ His trip to Pyongyang will be followed by a two-day state visit to Vietnam, where discussions will touch on trade and economic cooperation, the Kremlin said Monday.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said it opposes Moscow and Pyongyang deepening their military cooperation through Putin’s trip to the country.

“All cooperation and exchanges between Russia and North Korea will need to abide by relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and contribute toward the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula,” a spokesperson told VOA’s Korean Service on Monday.

Putin’s visit to the country, the first in 24 years, comes amid increased military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.

North Korea has transferred approximately 10,000 containers that could hold nearly 5 million artillery shells to Russia to fight against Ukraine, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday.

All arms exports and imports by North Korea are sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council.
Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied any arms dealings between them.

Putin’s trip to Pyongyang is expected to increase military cooperation that officially kicked off when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia in September 2023. Kim invited Putin to Pyongyang during his visit to Russia. https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-nkorea-ties-will-putin-kim-bromance-last-/7277519.html

“We discourage any government from receiving President Putin,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA’s Korean Service on June 12.

“If he is able to travel freely, it could normalize Russia’s blatant violations of international law and inadvertently send the message that atrocities can be committed in Ukraine and elsewhere with impunity,” the spokesperson said.

Deepening cooperation between Russia and North Korea poses concern for the Korean Peninsula as well as for Ukraine as it defends its “freedom and independence against Russia’s brutal war,” the spokesperson added.

After the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 for Russia’s alleged war crimes in Ukraine since its unprovoked invasion of the country in February 2022, Putin is limited in his international travels to allied countries.
Since his new presidential term began in May, Putin has visited Belarus, China and Uzbekistan.

In the meantime, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Thursday that “China has no intention [of] interfer[ing] with the exchange and cooperation between two sovereign countries.”

He said, “Both DPRK and Russia are China’s friendly neighbors.” North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

China and Russia, both veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have supported North Korea at council meetings held in the past several years by opposing new U.S.-led resolutions condemning North Korea’s ballistic missile launches banned by the U.N. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-accuses-russia-china-of-covering-for-north-korea-at-un/7242103.html In March, Moscow vetoed a resolution granting the annual extension of a U.N. panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea while Beijing abstained.

SEE ALSO: “Russia uses veto to shut down UN sanctions monitors on North Korea” https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-vetoes-monitoring-of-un-sanctions-against-north-korea/7547265.html

Michael Kimmage, who served on the U.S. State Department’s Policy Planning staff on Russia and Ukraine from 2014 to 2016, said, “Putin wishes to forge a long-term relationship with North Korea, and this would be reflected” in his visit to Pyongyang.

“Not only does North Korea supply Russia with weaponry to use in its war against Ukraine, but a more radical North Korea will pin the resources of Russia’s archenemy, the United States, in East Asia, helping to create a third zone of difficulty for Washington, in addition to Europe and the Middle East,” Kimmage said.

Kimmage, currently the chair at Catholic University of America’s history department, added that Russia’s other partner, China, may not want Pyongyang to be more provocative and may not be pleased with deepening ties between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Earlier this month, Putin threatened to arm the West’s adversaries with long-range missiles that could target the West in response to NATO members, including the U.S., allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to target inside Russia.

Evans Revere, a former U.S. State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea, said Putin’s meeting with Kim in Pyongyang “could reveal the details of Russian support for North Korea.”

“Pyongyang is reportedly interested in missile guidance, engine and fuel technologies, avionics upgrades for its aircraft and assistance with its nuclear program,” he said.

Revere added, “Russia has a significant strategic and tactical interest in complicating the security calculus of the United States and its allies in Northeast Asia. Putin’s visit will soon demonstrate how far Moscow is prepared to go in pursuing that interest.”
VOA’s Soyoung Ahn contributed to this report. https://www.voanews.com/a/washington-seoul-sound-alarm-over-putin-s-visit-to-pyongyang/7660049.html

“Anniversary of Chairman Kim Jong Il’s Start of Work at C.C., WPK Marked” Date: 18/06/2024 | Source: KCNA. kp (En) https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1718694700-688954707/anniversary-of-chairman-kim-jong-ils-start-of-work-at-c-c-wpk-marked/

“Russian President’s Visit to DPRK Welcomed: Newspapers of DPRK”
Date: 18/06/2024 | Source: KCNA. kp (En) https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1718694568-949404156/russian-presidents-visit-to-dprk-welcomed-newspapers-of-dprk/

The Power Vertical: North Korea Client State of Russia

Korean History Shaped By Three Powers: China, Japan, and Russia