Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to meet with leader Kim Jong Un.
Putin’s two-day visit, which is his first visit to the reclusive country in over two decades, comes as the two countries continue to further their military ties. North Korea has continued to aid Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine despite Western opposition.
The Russian leader published a letter Tuesday in Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, in which he expressed gratitude for North Korea’s support for Russia’s war efforts and added, “We are firmly convinced that we will put bilateral cooperation onto a higher level with our joint efforts.”
“We are pleased that the friends of the DPRK are defending their interests very effectively despite the U.S. economic pressure, provocation, blackmail, and military threats that have lasted for decades,” the letter said. “We are seeing the DPRK people fight to defend their freedom, sovereignty, and national traditions with what strength, dignity, and courage.”
Yury Ushakov, Putin’s aide for foreign affairs, said both leaders would sign “a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty.” If if it comes to fruition, this treaty would replace those from 1961, 2000, and 2001, according to Russian state media.
U.S. officials warned Monday, as they have several times over the course of Russia’s war, that the growing defense partnership poses a threat not only to Ukraine but to the Korean Peninsula and more.
John Kirby, U.S. National Security Council spokesman, said the deepening relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang is concerning “not just because of the impacts it’s going to have on the Ukrainian people, because we know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets, but because there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean Peninsula.”
The Western world has sought to isolate Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow, in response, has turned to other countries who oppose the United States and the West, including China, North Korea, and Iran, for assistance.
Beijing, despite claiming to be a neutral arbiter in the war, has aided Russia in evading sanctions, and Tehran has provided Moscow with hundreds of attack drones and support to build the drones in Russian territory.
North Korea has proven to be one of Russia’s biggest allies over the course of the war, including providing it with more than one million artillery shells as well as ballistic missiles. Kirby said in early January that North Korea’s decision to provide Russia with ballistic missiles represents “a significant and concerning escalation in the DPRK’s support for Russia.”
Both countries have denied that North Korea has provided Russia with weapons, a transfer that would be a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
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“We’re going to monitor like we always would,” said Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon spokeswoman, Monday. “I think with any meeting like this with any type of world leader, meeting whether it be face to face, having calls, there is deepening cooperation, a partnership that develops, but I don’t have anything to preview of what’s going to come out of those meetings.”
On Tuesday, about two dozen North Korean troops, who were doing construction work, crossed the military demarcation line with South Korea, and South Korean troops responded by firing warning shots, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. The North Korean troops retreated, and the JCS does not think the incident was intentional, local media reported. The incident is the second to occur in the last couple of weeks.