Vladimir Putin hadn’t set foot in North Korea for 24 years. The trip had been on the cards since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un boarded his armored train last year to travel to the Russian Far East, with stops at fighter plane factories and a rocket launch facility. Putin was perhaps waiting for the right time to return the visit to one of his main partners: after starting his fifth mandate and after a summit of the G-7 allied powers and another peace summit for Ukraine.
North Korea will give Putin a pompous welcome that will reveal the deepening alignment between the two authoritarian regimes. The Moscow-Pyongyang axis is based on a relationship of shared interests. Putin is seeking more weapons, particularly North Korean ammunition and projectiles that the Russian military has already used in the war in Ukraine. Kim, for his part, needs Russian military technology to develop spy satellites and continue to improve his nuclear program.
To this we must add the indispensable diplomatic support of Moscow, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to stop new sanctions against Pyongyang for the continuous launches of ballistic missiles. With Russian support, Kim feels immune from continuing to expand his arms race.
Tuesday, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party, Rodong Sinmunhas published a letter sent by Putin in which he promises «unwavering support» to the Asian country to defend its interests against what he defines as «pressure, blackmail and military threats» from the United States.
“We highly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) firmly supports Russia’s special military operations conducted in Ukraine,” adds Putin. «The two countries are now actively developing a multi-faceted partnership. This trip will elevate bilateral cooperation to a higher level,» he continued. Putin assured that both countries will jointly avoid international sanctions by deepening economic and trade cooperation.
In addition to his first trip to North Korea since 2000, Putin became the first world leader to visit Pyongyang since the end of North Korea’s hermetic regime due to the pandemic. Kim’s country has just started opening its doors to some tourist travel this year. -of Russian tourists- and to resume trade with China, which, unlike Russia, maintains a more distant and cold relationship with its Asian neighbor.
From the West they see Putin’s visit as an opportunity for Russia to try to strengthen its military ties with North Korea. Washington and Seoul have accused Pyongyang of exporting weapons to Russia. Between August 2023 and February 2024, North Korea reportedly sent approximately 6,700 containers with multiple rocket launchers and more than three million 152 mm artillery shells to Russia. This is what a report from the South Korean Ministry of Defense states.
US officials say North Korea has shipped about 11,000 containers full of weapons to Russia by sea and rail since September, when Kim visited Putin in Vladivostok. The shipments would also include Hwasong-11 class ballistic missiles. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told US lawmakers a month ago that the supply of North Korean munitions and missiles, as well as Iranian drones, had allowed Russian forces to «get back on their feet».
The trip to Pyongyang will be Putin’s first stop on his Asian tour will continue on Wednesday in Vietnam, another authoritarian regime ruled by the Communist Party and which is currently one of the fastest growing economies in the region. In May the Russian president made a state visit to Beijing to strengthen the strategic partnership with his counterpart Xi Jinping. With these trips Putin intends to break the image of isolation after widespread international condemnation for the invasion of Ukraine.