North Korea pact: Vladimir Putin is now escalating worldwide

Vladimir Putin visits dictator Kim Jong-un, and the West makes fun of him. British Defense Minister Grant Shapps wrote: “The world has turned away from Russia and forced Putin to the humiliation of going to North Korea hat in hand to keep his illegal invasion going.” The “Bild” newspaper wrote of the “begging visit.” Eastern Europe expert Anders Aslund on X: “What a loser! Putin’s visit to North Korea is embarrassing in many ways.”

Kim’s arms bazaar

Perhaps the “experts” in their bubble do not realize how dangerous this visit is for the West. Shin Wonsik, South Korea’s defense minister, said before Putin’s visit to the North that Kim Jong-un had already delivered Russia five million shells for heavy artillery and mortars. North Korea’s military doctrine provides for full equipment for 45 days of fighting. The dimensions of the stockpile cannot be compared with those in Western Europe. South Korean experts assume that the North has hoarded “several tens of millions of shells” in 152-millimeter caliber. The situation is similar with rockets for multiple rocket launchers (MLRS) of the Uragan and Smerchs types and the standard BM21 launcher. The same picture applies to 122-millimeter mortars.

With the snap of a finger, Kim Jong-un can mobilize millions of grenades and missiles, while the EU states have great difficulty providing Ukraine with even a million grenades a year. In addition, Putin has received ballistic missiles, the wreckage of which has already been found in Ukraine.

In short, there may be many things that are pathetic about the regime in North Korea, but this description is completely wrong when it comes to its role as an arms supplier.

Putin announces technological cooperation

In return, Moscow will supply raw materials and food to North Korea, as is already happening. And the cooperation does not have to end there. It was not for nothing that the minister responsible for armaments, Andrei Belousov, was on the trip.

Belousov is known for unconventional solutions; with start-ups and creative models, he wants to build a second arms industry in Russia alongside the gigantic state-owned companies. The Russians could import urgently needed workers for the arms industry from North Korea, just as they are already recruiting workers in Africa.

In North Korea, the Russians would not have to convince every single worker; here, thousands would be on the move at the dictator’s nod. This model is also conceivable: North Korea is lagging behind in the production of cruise missiles and drones. With Russian help, factories could be built in the country that would produce primarily for Russia for the duration of the war.

Mutual assistance pact between both countries

Two key things were agreed at the meeting: Both sides announced a military assistance pact in the event that one of the two countries is attacked. This does not necessarily mean that Russia will send troops if North Korea is attacked – or vice versa. The declaration of intent alone brings both countries closer together. Furthermore, Putin has promised that Moscow will review the UN sanctions against North Korea. This probably means nothing other than that Moscow is simply ignoring them.

Kim said in the televised speech that his country welcomes the role of the powerful Russian Federation in maintaining stability and balance, “we express our full support for the Russian government’s special military operation in Ukraine to protect the integrity and stability of its territory.” This is the solidarity desired by Russia.

In his speech, Putin focused on the US military operations in the Asian region, which are “clearly hostile” to North Korea. Regarding the use of Western weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation, Putin said that if the West supplies long-range precision weapons to Ukraine, the Russian Federation will no longer rule out military-technological cooperation with North Korea.

North Korea is strengthened

That does not sound good for the West, because it strengthens the unpredictable North Korea. With a guarantee of support from Moscow of any kind, military action by the USA against the nuclear power North Korea will become even more unlikely, if not impossible. Food supplies and income from arms exports strengthen the regime internally. And if there is actually a transfer of know-how, as Putin has suggested, rockets, cruise missiles and even submarines made in North Korea will take a huge step forward in development.

Kim Jong-un’s wish list is endless, and Putin can give a lot. North Korea needs a modern integrated air defense, submarines that cannot be tracked, development assistance for cruise missiles and drones. At the end of the scale are hypersonic reentry vehicles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Putin may pass on knowledge that he would not have exported without the pressure of war.

This is not good news for the West: Putin is beginning to arm the West’s enemies, and North Korea is only part of this strategy. The Houthis are an impressive demonstration of how much the Western world order can be disrupted with little effort.

China pushes towards the Sea of ​​Japan

Since Putin’s visit to Beijing, there have also been indications that North Korea and Russia could change the balance of power in the Sea of ​​Japan. China has long sought access to the sea area, which is only blocked by a 15-kilometer-long land bridge shared by Russia and North Korea. For a long time, Putin opposed a larger Chinese presence in the region. This could now change after his visit to Pyongyang.

Key to the considerations is the Chinese border river Tumen, which is currently not navigable for larger ships. In May, Putin assured Xi Jinping that he would work with North Korea on a solution to make it easier for Beijing to access it. Flat bridges would have to be replaced and the river dredged.

For China, access to the Sea of ​​Japan would certainly be worth it. For the USA and Japan, however, such a scenario would be a nightmare.

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