Seoul, South Korea — Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for support his actions in Ukraine and said their countries will work closely to overcome US-led sanctions, as he did on the way to Pyongyang Tuesday for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Putin's visit comes as… tensions on the Korean peninsula reached their highest point in years, at the pace of both Kim's weapons tests and intensify combined military exercises between the United States, South Korea and Japan in a tit-for-tat cycle. The Koreas are also engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare North Korea dumps tons of waste on the South with balloons and the South broadcasts anti-Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.
The South Korean military said soldiers fired warning shots to repel North Korean soldiers who temporarily crossed the rivals' land border on Tuesday for the second time this month. The South's military said North Korea has stepped up construction activities in frontline border areas, including installing suspected anti-tank barriers, strengthening roads and planting landmines.
South Korea's Ministry of Defense via AP
Technically, the countries are still at war, as the 1950-1953 conflict ended with an armistice. The demilitarized zone that separates them is one of the most heavily mined places on earth.
But Pyongyang is laying more landmines, strengthening tactical roads and adding what appear to be anti-tank barriers, the Seoul military said, according to Agence France-Presse.
The agency reported that the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said they believed Tuesday's incident — like an earlier one earlier this month — was accidental, involving about 20 to 30 North Korean troops with tools.
Putin's comments appeared in an op-ed in North Korean state media, hours before he was expected to arrive in the North for a two-day visit, as the countries deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington.
Putin, who will make his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, said he greatly appreciates the strong support for his invasion of Ukraine. He said countries would continue to “resolutely oppose” what he described as Western ambitions to “hinder the establishment of a multi-polarized world order based on mutual respect for justice.”
Putin also said Russia and North Korea will develop unspecified trade and payment systems “not controlled by the West” and jointly oppose sanctions on the countries, which he described as “unilateral and illegal restrictive measures.”
North Korea is under heavy economic sanctions from the UN Security Council over its nuclear weapons and missile programs, while Russia is also grappling with sanctions from the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine.
Putin said the countries will also expand cooperation in tourism, culture and education.
Putin's visit comes amid growing concerns over an arms deal in which Pyongyang would provide Moscow with desperately needed ammunition to fuel Putin's war in Ukraine in return for economic aid and technology transfers that would increase the threat from Kim's nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Military, economic and other exchanges between North Korea and Russia have increased sharply since Kim visited the Russian Far East in September for a meeting with Putin, the first since 2019.
U.S. and South Korean officials have accused the North of supplying Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong the fighting in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied allegations that North Korean arms transfers violate multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions that Russia previously approved.
Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim's continued efforts to increase his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking US-led efforts to impose new UN sanctions on the North over its weapons tests.
In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended oversight of U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is trying to avoid scrutiny as it buys weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Putin sent Kim a luxury Aurus Senat limousine, which he showed off to the North Korean leader when they met for a summit in September. Observers said the shipment violated a UN resolution banning the supply of luxury items to North Korea.
John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said the deepening relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang is worrying “not only because of the impact it will have on the Ukrainian people, because we know that North Korean ballistic missiles are still be used to hit Ukrainian targets, but because there could be some reciprocity that could affect security on the Korean Peninsula.”
“We haven't seen the parameters of all of this at this point, and certainly haven't seen it come to fruition. But we will certainly be watching that very, very closely,” he said.
Lim Soosuk, spokesman for South Korea's Foreign Ministry, said Seoul has emphasized to Moscow that any cooperation between Russia and North Korea should not “go in a direction that conflicts with U.N. Security Council resolutions or undermines peace and stability in the region'.
Lim also reiterated Seoul's regret over Russia's decision in March to veto a U.N. resolution that effectively abolished oversight by U.N. experts on the enforcement of Security Council sanctions on North Korea. U.S. and South Korean officials have said they are discussing options for a new mechanism to monitor the North.
Putin has consistently sought to mend ties with Pyongyang as part of his efforts to restore his country's power and Soviet-era alliances. Moscow's ties with North Korea weakened after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Kim Jong Un first met Putin in 2019 in Russia's eastern port city of Vladivostok.
After North Korea, the Kremlin said Putin will also visit Vietnam on Wednesday and Thursday for talks expected to focus on trade. The United States, which for years has strengthened ties with Vietnam and accelerated trade, criticized Putin's planned visit.
“As Russia continues to seek international support to continue its illegal and brutal war against Ukraine, we reiterate that no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities,” it said a spokesperson for the US embassy in Vietnam. said in a statement.
