North Korea and Russia have united to form a “new polarized international order” to align themselves against the US and its allies.
The Hermit Kinggdom’s foreign ministry said Sunday that it had agreed to further “deep strategic” and tactical cooperation with Russia on various regional and international issues.
It also said Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to visit Pyongyang “at an early date” to meet with Kim Jong Un, one of the few world leaders who supports his war on Ukraine.
It would be Putin’s first trip to North Korea in more than two decades.
“President Putin expressed deep thanks once again for the invitation of President of the State Affairs Kim Jong Un to visit Pyongyang at a convenient time and expressed his willingness to visit the DPRK at an early date,” state media KCNA reported.
The announcement followed North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui’s meetings with the Russian president and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow last week.
Russia expressed “deep thanks” to North Korea for its “full support” over its war on Ukraine, the North Korean ministry said.
It said Choe and the Russian officials expressed “serious concern” over expanding military cooperation between the US and Asian allies that they blamed for worsening tensions in the region and threatening North Korea’s sovereignty and security interests.
North Korea has been actively working to solidify its blossoming relationship with Russia, highlighted by leader Jong Un’s September visit to the country for a summit with Putin.
Kim is trying to break out of diplomatic isolation and strengthen his position as he navigates a deepening nuclear standoff with Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.
The prospect of a Russia-North Korea alliance in arms and military cooperation, in which North Korea provides Russia with munitions to help prolong its fighting in Ukraine, has raised concerns among the West and allies in the Korean peninsula.
Both Pyongyang and Russia have denied accusations by Washington and Seoul about North Korean arms transfers to Russia.
In a separate statement on Sunday, the North’s Foreign Ministry condemned the U.N. Security Council for calling an emergency meeting over the country’s latest ballistic test, which state media described as a new intermediate-range solid-fuel missile tipped with a hypersonic warhead.
The ministry said the test-firing on Jan. 14 was just another one of the country’s regular activities to improve its defense capabilities and that it didn’t pose a threat to its neighbors.
South Korea on Thursday urged the Security Council “to break the silence” over North Korea’s escalating missile tests and threats.
Russia and China, both permanent members of the council, have blocked US-led efforts to increase sanctions on North Korea over its recent weapons tests, underscoring a divide worsening over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, after Jong Un in recent months used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to ramp up his weapons tests and military demonstrations.
The US, South Korea and Japan have hit back by ramping up their combined military exercises, which Jong Un portrays as invasion rehearsals, and sharpening their deterrence plans built around nuclear-capable US assets.
In the latest tit-for-tat, North Korea on Friday said it conducted a test of a purported nuclear-capable underwater attack drone in response to a combined naval exercise by the US, South Korea and Japan last week, as it continued to blame its rivals for tensions in the region.
Choe’s visit to Moscow came as Kim continues to use domestic political events to issue provocative threats of nuclear conflict.
At Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament last week, Kim declared that North Korea is abandoning its long-standing goal of a peaceful unification with war-divided rival South Korea and ordered the rewriting of the North’s constitution to cement the South as its most hostile foreign adversary.
He accused South Korea of acting as “top-class stooges” of the Americans and repeated a threat that he would use his nukes to annihilate the South if provoked.
Analysts say North Korea could be aiming to diminish South Korea’s voice in the regional nuclear standoff and eventually force direct dealings with Washington as it looks to cement its status as a nuclear weapons state.
With Post wires
