ED Dangerous alliance
A photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, meeting with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu at the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang, June 4. EPA-Yonhap
Seoul should chart realistic strategy to counter Pyongyang-Moscow ties
Once a partner, always a partner. North Korea and Russia have reaffirmed that their military partnership, forged during the war in Ukraine, will continue even after the conflict ends, raising fresh concerns about its implications for global security.
On Tuesday, Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, visited Pyongyang under “special instruction” from President Vladimir Putin. During his visit, Shoigu held talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Following the meeting, Shoigu announced a new military dispatch from North Korea to Russia — this time aimed at assisting in the reconstruction of war-damaged regions along the Russian border.
The announcement underscores that Pyongyang-Moscow relations will continue to deepen and expand, regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine.
In an interview with Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, Shoigu revealed that North Korea plans to send 1,000 mine removers and 5,000 military engineers to help rebuild the Russian city of Kursk. He described the aid as a form of “fraternal assistance” from North Korea. Shoigu also hinted at the restoration of direct air travel between the two nations, which was suspended over 30 years ago, noting that nonstop flights would resume soon.
Tuesday marked Shoigu’s third visit to Pyongyang in three months, highlighting the accelerating momentum in bilateral ties. Far from waning with the potential end of the Ukraine conflict as many analysts here expected, the relationship appears to be growing stronger.
What North Korea might receive in return for dispatching 6,000 troops remains unclear. However, one thing is certain: the continued expansion of military cooperation between the two authoritarian regimes represents a serious development with the potential to destabilize international security in the postwar period.
Meanwhile, peace efforts to end the protracted war in Europe continue. Earlier this month, Russian and Ukrainian officials convened for a second round of direct peace talks. However, the negotiations stalled, with Ukrainian representatives blaming Moscow for rejecting calls for an unconditional ceasefire.
As time passes, Pyongyang-Moscow relations have evolved into an increasingly dangerous security threat. Initially, analysts here were skeptical about the durability of their military cooperation, reasoning that North Korea would have little to offer Russia once the war in Ukraine ended. The two Cold War-era allies were brought back together by necessity, as Russia faced severe shortages of soldiers and munitions during the prolonged conflict.
In response, North Korea reportedly dispatched around 10,000 troops to Russia, with North Korean soldiers reportedly fighting alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region where thousands of them are said to have died. This deployment followed Pyongyang’s shipment of millions of artillery shells and other munitions to support Russia’s war effort.
Many experts believed that if a ceasefire were reached through ongoing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, North Korea would quickly lose its strategic value to Moscow, causing bilateral ties to wane. However, recent developments have upended those assumptions. North Korea’s latest commitment to send thousands of army engineers and mine removers to assist in the reconstruction of war-torn Russian regions signals that the alliance is not only persisting but deepening, regardless of whether a ceasefire is achieved.
South Korea, which directly borders the North, is poised to bear the brunt of the fallout. The deepening military partnership between North Korea and Russia poses a grave threat not only to South Korea’s national security but to international stability as well.
In this context, the Lee Jae Myung administration must urgently reassess its foreign policy strategy. During his presidential campaign, Lee promised to depart from the hardline policies of the Yoon Suk Yeol government by pursuing dialogue with Pyongyang and advocating for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula. He also pledged to improve relations with Russia and China, arguing that diplomatic space existed for mutually beneficial cooperation.
However, the accelerating military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow exposes the flaws — and perhaps the naivety — of Lee’s foreign policy vision. How can South Korea expect to benefit from rapprochement with a regime that continues to enhance its nuclear and missile capabilities, potentially with access to advanced Russian military technology?
Lee must recognize the dangerous reality of the North Korea-Russia alliance and its potentially catastrophic implications for regional geopolitics. His policy framework assumes that North Korea is a rational actor open to denuclearization under the right conditions. In truth, Pyongyang regards its nuclear arsenal as a nonnegotiable guarantor of regime survival.
Given these developments, Lee has limited but critical options. Foremost, he must prioritize strengthening the South Korea-U.S. alliance, which remains the cornerstone of the nation’s security. Additionally, he must intensify efforts to bolster cooperation with Japan to reinforce the trilateral security partnership among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. In this increasingly unpredictable geopolitical climate, a strong U.S. alliance and robust trilateral partnership are not merely strategic choices — they are essential.