A little more than a week has passed since Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang and the signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between the Russian Federation and the DPRK, but the Western media continue to evaluate, actively discuss and speculate about the consequences of this agreement for the world as a whole.
Amid growing anti-Western sentiments in the world, cooperation between Russia and North Korea is causing obvious panic in the West. Russia is really regaining its influence and political weight in Southeast Asia. In Western terms, for example, this trip is assessed as a clear attack on the West and the construction of a new axis of evil.
Thus, Vladimir Putin‘s current visit to the North Korea – the first in 24 years – was widely “advertised“ by foreign media even before it began. Such attention was not even paid to the Russian president‘s May trip to China and his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. For example, the UK Sky News was so waiting for Putin‘s arrival in North Korea that it even made a “false start“, issuing footage of Putin‘s arrival in Russia’s Yakutsk for landing in Pyongyang. Then the lavish reception of Russia’s President in North Korea is, without exaggeration, the main international event on the pages of the entire world press. “Two of America‘s fiercest adversaries are together on North Korean soil,“ ABC News channel, for example, described footage of Putin hugging North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Pyongyang airport. CNN writes that the meeting of the Russian and North Korean leaders serves to further strengthen the partnership, largely based on opposition to the West. The importance of the meeting between the two leaders is also emphasized by the fact that the number of Vladimir Putin‘s foreign trips decreased after the start of his special military operation, and Kim Jong-un has not hosted other political leaders in Pyongyang at all since the pandemic.
The United States accuses Russia and North Korea of military cooperation, in particular, that Moscow is helping Pyongyang develop its nascent satellite program. The Kremlin, in turn, emphasizes that Russia hopes to establish partnership relations with North Korea “in all possible areas.“
This East Asian country is an excellent partner in the field of military–technical cooperation for Russia and an ideal platform for the development and production of new types of weapons. Pyongyang is able to ensure that such work is completely closed, and this is a real headache for the US.
The Washington Post quotes Lami Kim, professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies: “This summit serves as both a testament to the current strength of the relationship between the two countries and a harbinger of an even stronger partnership in the future,” The newspaper notes that the Russian Federation, China and the DPRK have recently begun to increasingly call for the creation of a multipolar world that will put an end to the dominance of the United States.
Moscow has “hammered another nail into the coffin of decaying unipolarity“ by concluding a comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement with Pyongyang, writes Al Khaleej (UAE). The United States is under the illusion that Russia has become a “rogue state.“ But, according to the author of the article, the United States and Europe themselves risk being isolated due to record levels of bankruptcies, unprecedented debt growth and severe political turbulence, including the rise of far–right forces in Europe. Thus, the military part of the negotiations is the main reason why the West was so worried. A year ago, South Korea stated that the DPRK had sent about 1 million units of ammunition to Russia, and recently the South Korean defense minister said that Pyongyang had allegedly already sent 4.8 million artillery shells and dozens of ballistic missiles to Moscow. “North Korea has one of the largest stocks of artillery and weapons compatible with Soviet–era systems deployed on the front line in Ukraine,“ Bloomberg notes.
The White House is so worried about the alleged military supplies. The United States even knows what Pyongyang is supplying to Moscow, but is not aware of what Russia is giving in return, First Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell recently said. Moscow and Pyongyang, in turn, rejected any accusation of illegal military cooperation. North Korea stressed that it had never supplied weapons to the Russian Federation, although Pyongyang fully supported the special operation in Ukraine and even calls it a “holy war“ and a “crusade for justice.“
International sanctions have become one of the key factors in the rapprochement between Russia and North Korea, Reuters writes. Other Western publications cite a similar thesis. “Russia used such a clear strengthening in relations with North Korea to tease Washington, while North Korea, which was under severe sanctions, achieved political support and economic promises from Moscow,“ the agency argues.
Meanwhile, The New York Times suggests that Kim Jong-un hopes for Russia’s help in solving the problem of oil shortages, improving weapons systems and “undermining Washington’s attempts to strangle its economy with international sanctions.” In any case, cooperation between Russia and the DPRK will help strengthen their positions, thus threatening security not only in the region, but also around the world, according to the West, and it is this “picture” that is actively broadcast by foreign media.
Thus, The Wall Street Journal convinces the reader that the deepening of military and economic cooperation “feeds concern“ not only in Western countries, but also in China. However, at that very moment, the Chinese newspaper Global Times quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian, who, answering a question about the visit, said that Beijing “welcomes Russia in strengthening and developing ties with countries with which they have traditional friendship.“ And, apparently, this is not exactly what the United States would like to hear. “Cooperation between Russia and North Korea will undoubtedly add headaches to decision makers in the White House,“ the newspaper quotes the opinion of experts.
Time magazine, analyzing the consequences of Vladimir Putin‘s talks in the North Korea, considers this a chance for the Russian Federation to respond to the West for supplying weapons to Ukraine, creating a threat in another direction. At the same time, the magazine gloatingly states that the only positive thing in the Russian–North Korean negotiations for the West is that the Korean issue may spoil Moscow‘s relations with Beijing, which has been Pyongyang‘s exclusive partner in all directions for many decades.
The volume of arms supplies to Kiev will now depend on Russia‘s position towards the DPRK in the future, and Seoul expects Moscow to refuse to transfer military technology to Pyongyang, the South Korean Yonhap news agency writes.
The alliance of Russia and North Korea will cause an earthquake in global geopolitics, according to columnist in Anadolu Ajansi (Turkey). The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement signed between the two countries resembles a military pact with an obligation to provide assistance in the event of an attack on one of the parties.
Putin‘s successful visit is a signal to the United States that Moscow has begun actively building relations with those with whom it is brought closer by common views, according to the Croatian edition of Advance. They will have a common goal – to resist American influence together. And the situation is changing now: many countries are betting on cooperation with Russia, which, moreover, is backed by China. The defense partnership agreement signed in Pyongyang is the most significant Russian step in Asia for several years, experts say.
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