Pariahs in the Same Boat: How the War Bound Moscow and Pyongyang
Roman Chernikov on the transformation of Russian-North Korean relations after 2022
Russia's war against Ukraine provided the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with a rare opportunity to forge a closer bond with Moscow. During Boris Yeltsin's and Vladimir Putin's early reigns, Moscow and Pyongyang's relationship was strained, with the Kremlin recalling its historical friendship while avoiding any large-scale joint ventures.
The Russian president acted as a mediator, bridging the gap between the international community and North Korea. However, with the onset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the old barriers vanished, and the two nations found themselves bound together as sanctioned pariahs confronting the "Western hegemon."
In July 2000, President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea for the first time, hoping to persuade then-leader Kim Jong-il to halt the country's missile program. This would have allowed Moscow to demonstrate its negotiating prowess and persuade the US to abandon missile-defense systems in Alaska, claiming North Korea's threat was non-existent. Unfortunately, the visit yielded no significant results when Kim Jong-il later undermined the agreement at the G8 summit in Okinawa.
In 2024, Putin's second visit to Pyongyang followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the two nations now shared a common fate as sanctioned adversaries of the West. Despite Putin's insistence that North Korean soldiers would not be deployed against Ukraine, Russian media reported that the two countries had agreed to military-technical cooperation in case of escalation.
This development surprised South Korea, which began to reconsider direct lethal-arms deliveries to Ukraine, fearing potential retaliation from Pyongyang.
Written by urgent.news from Riddle Russia's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
