North Korea - Russia relations

Report by North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)

19 Feb 2024 5 1

Sergey Lavrov

Inserted 2 months ago

“All of a sudden South Korea's rhetoric became even more hostile towards Pyongyang. In Japan as well, we hear aggressive rhetoric and it is seriously talking about setting up NATO infrastructure with U.S. assistance. They're preparing for war with the DPRK.”

Russian Foreign Minister

24 Jan 2024 6 4

Andrei Lankov

Inserted 7 months ago

“Discussions of any open violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea would signal that major international agencies will be paralysed. The summit is an indicator that North Korea-related Security Council resolutions are dead, as are all attempts to stop North Korea or penalise it for having a nuclear program. It creates an important precedent that is likely to be used not only by Russia but pretty much every major international player that if you don't like a UNSC resolution you just ignore it. Russia may be unlikely to provide North Korea with advanced technology that it could eventually lose control of. But its excessive signalling at defence cooperation allows it to send a strong message to South Korea not to directly provide military aid to Ukraine.”

Professor at Seoul's Kookmin University

14 Sep 2023 6 3

Leif-Eric Easley

Inserted 7 months ago

“If they simply wanted a secret arms deal, the two leaders did not have to meet in person. Putin and Kim's diplomatic display is meant to claim success in challenging the U.S.-led international order, avoiding over-reliance on China, and increasing pressure on rivals in Ukraine and South Korea.”

Professor at Ewha University in Seoul

14 Sep 2023 5 2

Duyeon Kim

Inserted 7 months ago

“Putin and Kim would both gain from a transactional bargain but they would also gain geopolitically by giving off the impression that their nuclear-armed countries are cooperating militarily and sending a warning about potential consequences to America's allies and like-minded partners that support Ukraine. Kim would also be signalling to Washington, Seoul and Tokyo that Russia has his back in Northeast Asia.”

Adjunct senior fellow with the Indo-Pacific Security Program at CNAS based in Seoul

14 Sep 2023 4 2

Daniel Salisbury

Inserted 7 months ago

“That Putin and Kim can satisfy one another's strategic interest is of concern beyond the war in Ukraine. North Korea desperately wants commodities such as food, oil, fertiliser and other goods. On the other hand, Russia has a vast military, nuclear and missile industrial complex, which…could provide Pyongyang much-needed technological fruits. If Moscow does move towards becoming a regular customer for embargoed North Korean arms, it will help Putin sustain his illegal war on Ukraine. But the potential technological payoff for Pyongyang could pose longer-term hazards for the world and must also be considered.”

Visiting research fellow at King’s College London

13 Sep 2023 (approx) 6 2

Fyodor Tertitskiy

Inserted 7 months ago

“The relationship between these two nations is based on lots of deception and rhetoric. While North Korea's Western-facing media output may take a strong stance in support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the media North Koreans consume has remained silent on the war. Many North Koreans may not even know that Russia has invaded its neighbour.”

Leading researcher at Kookmin University's Institute for Korean Studies

13 Sep 2023 2 2

Dmitry Peskov

Inserted 7 months ago

“There will be discussions related to bilateral relations, cooperation, trade and economic ties, and cultural exchanges. Naturally, there will be an exchange of views on the regional situation and international affairs in general, as this is of interest to both Putin and our guest from Pyongyang.”

Kremlin spokesman

12 Sep 2023 2 2

Andrei Lankov

Inserted 7 months ago

“Putin-Kim summit is part of gentle diplomatic blackmail by Russia of South Korea, because it did not want Seoul to supply weapons to Kyiv.”

Professor at Seoul's Kookmin University

11 Sep 2023 6 4

Ramon Pacheco Pardo

Inserted 7 months ago

“The deepening relationship between Kim and Putin signals a further global split over the war. North Korea's support will allow Putin to wage his war for longer, which is bad news for Europe. It is further proof that much of the world doesn't support Ukraine in the way the US and Europe do, and some countries such as North Korea will openly support Russia without fear of any real consequences.”

Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance

11 Sep 2023 5 2

Sung Ki-young

Inserted 7 months ago

“I don't think that any economic assistance from Russia could be more than symbolic. But North Korea needs technological help from Russia. North Korea's five major weapons projects are all based on original Russian technology.”

Nytimes

Analyst at the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank affiliated with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service

05 Sep 2023 3 2

Lee Byong-chul

Inserted 7 months ago

“It's shocking news for the U.S. and countries in Europe hoping for an early end to the war in Ukraine. North Korean munitions can add fuel to the fire.”

Nytimes

Professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in South Korea

05 Sep 2023 2 2

Kim Yo-jong

Inserted 1 year ago

“I express serious concern over the US escalating the war situation by providing Ukraine with military hardware for ground offensive. The US is the arch criminal which poses serious threat and challenge to the strategic security of Russia and pushes the regional situation to the present grave phase. I do not doubt that any military hardware the US and the West boast of will be burnt into pieces in the face of the indomitable fighting spirit and might of the heroic Russian army and people. North Korea will always stand in the same trench with Russia.”

North Korean politician serving as the Deputy Director of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea

27 Jan 2023 4 3

Yevgeny Prigozhin

Inserted 1 year ago

“Everyone knows that North Korea has not been supplying any weapons to Russia for a long time. And no such efforts have even been made. Therefore, the supply of weapons from North Korea is nothing but gossip and speculation.”

Founder of Russia’s Wagner Group, a private mercenary force

22 Dec 2022 (approx) 2 2

John Kirby

Inserted 1 year ago

“We can confirm that North Korea has completed an initial arms delivery to Wagner, which paid for that equipment. Last month, North Korea delivered infantry rockets and missiles into Russia for use by Wagner.”

Pentagon spokesman

22 Dec 2022 5 2

Ankit Panda

Inserted 1 year ago

“Even the concessions that North Korea would want, I think, are very much unclear at the moment. It's quite possible that the North Koreans are simply… they see the current moment as a great moment of geopolitical realignment in the world with Russia's war against Ukraine, and systemic rivalry between the US and China. And they might have calculated that instead of pursuing negotiations with the United States and trying to revisit that relationship, which they've been trying to revisit for now, really 30 years, their cause is better served by simply doubling down on their relationships with Russia and China.”

Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

10 Oct 2022 5 3

Hyun Seung-soo

Inserted 1 year ago

“Even [leaders of] Russia did not see it coming [recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine] - and then, the North reportedly offered to send its workers to the region. Over the past 20 years, Russia's diplomatic strategies on North Korea and the Korean Peninsula have not changed much. But I believe it is now on the verge of a big shift. In the short run, there seems little incentive for the North to make such decisions, which have drawn international criticism. But in the long term, what it can gain from Russia, one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, is enormous. North Korea is probably expecting Russia's support at the U.N. … It is very likely that Russia will offer it. I have heard from sources in Russia that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may visit Russia this year.”

Research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification

31 Aug 2022 4 1

Chun Chae-sung

Inserted 1 year ago

“The current (Yoon Suk-yeol) government has this last opportunity for denuclearization. Perhaps, we have already missed it. North Korea perceives the current situation as a new Cold War and has strengthened relations with China and Russia … This means that North Korea's need for U.S. security guarantees and, therefore, reasons for abandoning its nuclear weapons will decrease.”

Professor of political science and international relations at Seoul National University

31 Aug 2022 5 4

Artyom Lukin

Inserted 1 year ago

“It seemed like the United States wanted to provoke and produce this split in the Security Council, knowing that China and Russia would not support the resolution. Moscow and Beijing appear somewhat tolerant of North Korea's resuming long-range missile launches, but it is far from clear that Pyongyang has Russia's and China's consent, tacit or otherwise, for a nuclear test. Nuclear testing is seen by Beijing, and especially Moscow, as a far more serious matter, compared to missile testing. Nevertheless, Russia sees the Ukraine crisis as a proxy war with the United States, and the war is now bleeding into the situation around North Korea. Even though Moscow and Washington have a real shared interest in the denuclearisation of North Korea, it has now become extremely difficult, if not impossible, for them to collaborate.”