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This is BIG.
Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia is far-far beyond any ordinary stateman visit. The two leaders Putin and Kim spend a day together, including several hours both with delegations which has a military component, and just the two of them. Kim visits Russia’s Eastern Cosmodrome, indicating a coming Russia collaboration with North Korea in ballistic rocket technology and “satellites”. Kim will also visit Russia’s Pacific Fleet. Kim will fly around Russia and visit factories, including military ones. And Kim will visit a Russian university. They will also discuss agriculture, common logistics (a sure sign of massive cooperation coming), and tourism – opening a new level of higher education and massive boost to the income for North Korea.
North Korea is going to a whole new level. Food security. New jobs. Energy. Even bigger military. Ballistic missiles that can reach the continental US (CONUS). Modernized fleet and submarines. Better education. And a higher standard of living and social satisfaction with the government. The Russian news agency TASS even makes an open reference to the US just having created a military alliance with Japan and South Korea at Camp David. This openly indicates that Putin’s meeting with Kim includes a similar nature, a military alliance, though not formally.
The president [Putin] also indicated that Moscow and Pyongyang have broad prospects for the development of military-technical cooperation (MTC). See this.
This is a strategic game-changer with global repercussions. Everything the US ever feared North Korea could become is coming true. And the US has only itself to thank for that. US President Biden and the neocons have often boasted that Russia “lost” with the inclusion of Finland into NATO. Well, the Russia-North Korea axis more than doubles down on that. After all, Finland is not nuclear armed – but North Korea is. The whole US game around Japan, South Korea, and not least Taiwan, has now been hit by a big nuclear torpedo.
The potential for Russia-North Korea cooperation is enormous, and the two leaders clearly have big strategic plans. But the two countries keep the details of those plans for themselves. The relation between Russia and North Korea is strategic and long-term since 1945 because it builds on shared interests. Russia (and China) needs North Korea as a bulwark against the US in the East. And North Korea, on its side, needs access to the energy, food, mineral resources, technology, and military knowhow which Russia has plenty of. On top of that, Russia with its full-employment situation needs access to well-educated, affordable, and trustworthy North Korean labor – both for industrial production and for reconstruction in the new Russian regions. The two countries have plenty of human and material resources to pay in exchange for what the other one’s got.
North Korea has industrial history. The industrialization of Korea pre-1945 started in the North, where mining, hydropower etc. are located. North Korea also has a well-educated population and a stable society. North Korea will help put enormous pressure on the US, and North Korea can become a low-cost factory and construction powerhouse for a Russia which lacks labor but has lots of energy, technology, and advanced weapons to offer in return. And all logistics with North Korea is overland without middle countries, preventing any US interference.
The beneficial long-term relationship between these two countries is now, though not openly declared, being upgraded to a de-facto alliance. After the First Cold War ended in 1989, Russia toned down its support for North Korea to gain advantages with the West and to avoid sanctions. That was never appreciated by the US, and it’s over now. Russia has no longer reason to restrain its relations with North Korea, and the cooperation is jumping up to a new level.
China with its rising tensions with the US has an interest in seeing this happen. It will strengthen China’s strategic partner Russia and pressure the US militarily as tensions rise over Taiwan – and China cannot even be blamed by the US.
A sure sign that the US cannot stomach this Russia-North Korea development is the fake story spun by US media, that North Korea should have “hacked” Russian IT. That US story is to be seen as nothing but a US psy-op (psychological operation) to put a drop of malice in the chalice, but it has no credibility. It would of course be foolish (and unnecessary) of North Korea to “hack” anything Russia.
Look forward to a new B.I.G. North Korea.
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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
