Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un smile during their meeting at the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport outside Pyongyang. File
| Photo Credit: AP

North Korea will stand by Russia until its “victory” in Ukraine, Pyongyang’s Foreign Minister said in Moscow amid growing fears the reclusive country will enter the Ukraine conflict.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui made the statement after talks with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

She was in Moscow as the West claimed thousands of North Korean troops were in Russia and would possibly be used in Ukraine.

Also Read: U.S. says North Korea troops ready for Ukraine combat as missile raises tensions

“We repeat that we will always stand firmly by our Russian comrades until victory day,” North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said, according to a Russian translation.

“We have no doubt whatsoever that under the wise leadership of the honourable Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian army and people will surely achieve a great victory in their sacred struggle to defend the sovereign rights and security of their state,” she added.

Russia’s Mr. Lavrov hailed the close ties between the two countries’ armies and special services. Moscow signed a mutual defence pact with Pyongyang this summer.

“Very close ties have been established between the militaries and special services of the two countries,” he said.

“This will also make it possible to solve significant security aims for our citizens and yours.” He said Moscow was “deeply grateful to our Korean friends for their principled position on the events that have unfolded in Ukraine.”

Neither Minister mentioned Western reports on North Korean troop deployment. The pair earlier unveiled a memorial plaque in honour of North Korea’s Kim Il-Sung’s visit to the USSR in 1949.

The U.S. has said that 8,000 North Korean soldiers are training in Russia and could be deployed to fight in Ukraine.

On Thursday (October 31, 2024), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking to South Korean media, denounced what he called inaction by his allies on the North Korean troop deployment.

Russia has sought to deepen its relations with North Korea since sending troops to Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual assistance pact with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un when he visited Pyongyang this summer.

This undated photo provided on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, by the North Korean government, shows what it says is a South Korean drone at an undisclosed place in North Korea.
| Photo Credit: AP

North Korea said Saturday (October 19, 2024) that it found the remains of a South Korean drone during a search in its capital, Pyongyang, claiming the drone proved the South’s military was behind the alleged drone infiltrations over the city’s skies earlier in the month.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency released photos showing a seemingly damaged aircraft with wide, V-shaped wings and winglets. It said a joint investigation by North Korea’s military and State security agencies concluded that the aircraft, which it said was found on Oct. 13, was the same type of drone that appeared in a South Korean military parade earlier in October.

Also Read: Rising tensions in the Korean peninsula | Explained

North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over the night skies of Pyongyang three different times this month to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets. It threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again.

The aircraft allegedly found in Pyongyang was likely one of the drones that were used to drop leaflets, North Korea’s Defense Ministry said, but further examinations were needed to verify that.

Should South Korea deny that the aircraft was used to drop leaflets, that would only confess to a separate infiltration of North Korea’s airspace by the South’s military, the Ministry said. If North Korea confirms another violation of its territorial ground, airspace, and waters by the South’s military, that will be regarded as a “declaration of war and an immediate retaliatory attack will be launched,” the ministry added.

Also Read: South Korean intelligence says North is sending troops to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine: reports

South Korea’s military didn’t immediately respond to North Korea’s report about the alleged drone discovery.

South Korea’s Defense Minister initially made a vague denial after the North’s Oct. 11 accusation that the South sent drones over Pyongyang. The South’s military adjusted its response hours later, saying it couldn’t confirm whether or not the North’s claims were true.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are now at their worst in years as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ramps up his weapons tests and threats, and expands military cooperation with Russia, with South Korea claiming the North dispatched troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The animosity has been exacerbated by Cold War-style psychological warfare campaigns between the Koreas in recent months.

Since May, North Korea has sent thousands of balloons carrying paper waste, plastic, and other trash to drop on the South. The South’s military has responded by using loudspeakers at the border to broadcast propaganda and K-pop to North Korea.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of Kim’s authoritarian government and his family’s dynastic rule.

A TV screen reports North Korea has blown up parts of the northern side of inter-Korean roads during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

South Korea said North Korea blew up the northern parts of inter-Korean roads no longer in use on Tuesday (October 15, 2024), as the rivals are locked in rising animosities over North Korea’s claim that South Korea flew drones over its capital, Pyongyang.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a brief statement that North Korea blew up parts of the roads on Tuesday.

It said South Korea’s military is bolstering its readiness and surveillance posture but gave no further details.

The explosions came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called a meeting with his top military and security officials. During the meeting, Mr. Kim described the alleged South Korean drone flights as the “enemy’s serious provocation” and laid out unspecified tasks related to “immediate military action” and the operation of his “war deterrent” for defending the country’s sovereignty, the North’s state media reported earlier Tuesday.

North Korea earlier put frontline artillery and other army units on standby to launch strikes on South Korea, if drones from South Korea are found over North Korea again. South Korea has refused to confirm whether it sent drones but warned it would sternly punish North Korea if the safety of its citizens is threatened.

Destroying the roads would be in line with leader Kim Jong Un’s push to cut off ties with South Korea, formally cement it as his country’s principal enemy and abandon the North’s decades-long objective to seek a peaceful Korean unification.

During the previous era of inter-Korean detente in the 2000s, the two Koreas reconnected two road routes and two rail tracks across their heavily fortified border. But their operations later were suspended one by one as the Koreas wrangled over North Korea’s nuclear program and other issues.

Last week, North Korea said it would permanently block its border with South Korea and build front-line defence structures to cope with “confrontational hysteria” by South Korean and U.S. forces. South Korean officials said North Korea had already been adding anti-tank barriers and laying mines along the border since earlier this year. They said North Korea has also planted mines removed lamps along its sections of the inter-Korean roads and taken out ties on the northern side of the railways.

A TV screen shows an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a news program, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on June 19, 2024. North Korean leader Kim promised full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine before beginning a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday, in a bid to expand their economic and military cooperation and show a united front against Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

South Korea said on June 20 that it would consider sending arms to Ukraine, a major policy change suggested after Russia and North Korea rattled the region and beyond by signing a pact to come to each other’s defense in the event of war.

The comments from a senior presidential official came hours after North Korea’s state media released the details of the agreement, which observers said could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. It comes at a time when Russia faces growing isolation over its war in Ukraine and both countries face escalating standoffs with the West.

According to the text of the deal published by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, if either country gets invaded and is pushed into a state of war, the other must deploy “all means at its disposal without delay” to provide “military and other assistance.” But the agreement also says that such actions must be in accordance with the laws of both countries and Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which recognizes a U.N. member state’s right to self-defense.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the pact at a summit on June 19 in Pyongyang. Both described it as a major upgrade of bilateral relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties.

The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a statement condemning the agreement, calling it a threat to the South’s security and a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and warned that it would have negative consequences on Seoul’s relations with Moscow.

“It’s absurd that two parties with a history of launching wars of invasion — the Korean War and the war in Ukraine — are now vowing mutual military cooperation on the premise of a preemptive attack by the international community that will never happen,” Mr. Yoon’s office said.

Mr. Yoon’s national security adviser, Chang Ho-jin, said Seoul would reconsider the issue of providing arms to Ukraine to help the country fight off Russia’s invasion.

South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped military backed by the United States, has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow. But it has not directly provided arms to Kyiv, citing a longstanding policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.

The summit between Kim and Putin came as the U.S. and its allies expressed growing concern over a possible arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

Following their summit, Mr. Kim said the two countries had a “fiery friendship,” and that the deal was their “strongest-ever treaty,” putting the relationship at the level of an alliance. He vowed full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Mr. Putin called it a “breakthrough document” reflecting shared desires to move relations to a higher level.

North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961, which experts say necessitated Moscow’s military intervention if the North came under attack. The deal was discarded after the collapse of the USSR, replaced by one in 2000 that offered weaker security assurances.

There’s ongoing debate on how strong of a security commitment the deal entails. While some analysts see the agreement as a full restoration of the countries’ Cold War-era alliance, others say the deal seems more symbolic than substantial.

Ankit Panda, a senior analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the text appeared to be carefully worded as to not imply automatic military invention.

But “the big picture here is that both sides are willing to put down on paper, and show the world, just how widely they intend to expand the scope of their cooperation,” he said.

The deal was made as Mr. Putin visited North Korea for the first time in 24 years, a trip that showcased their personal and geopolitical ties with Kim hugging Putin twice at the airport, their motorcade rolling past giant Russian flags and Putin portraits, and a welcoming ceremony at Pyongyang’s main square attended by what appeared to be tens of thousands of spectators.

According to KCNA, the agreement also states that Pyongyang and Moscow must not enter into agreements with third parties if they infringe on the “core interests” of any of them and must not participate in actions that threaten those interests.

KCNA said the agreement requires the countries to take steps to prepare joint measures for the purpose of strengthening their defense capabilities to prevent war and protect regional and global peace and security. The agency didn’t specify what those steps are, or whether they would include combined military training and other cooperation.

The agreement also calls for the countries to actively cooperate in efforts to establish a “just and multipolar new world order,” KCNA said, underscoring how the countries are aligning in face of their separate confrontations with the United States.

How the pact affects Russia’s relations with the South is a key development to watch, said Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and director of the North Korea-focused 38 North website.

“Seoul had already signed onto sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, souring its relations with Moscow. Now with any ambiguity of Russia’s partnership with North Korea removed, how will Seoul respond?” she said. “Is there a point where it decides to cut or suspend diplomatic ties with Russia or expel its ambassador? And have we reached it?”

Mr. Kim in recent months has made Russia his priority as he pushes a foreign policy aimed at expanding relations with countries confronting Washington, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and trying to display a united front in Putin’s broader conflicts with the West.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Mr. Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the U.S., South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle.

The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.