N. Korea’s warm welcome wins support of isolated regime; Russian public pressured to accept new ally

SEOUL, South Korea — Moscow is shifting its focus toward developing nations, including nuclear-armed North Korea, as the U.S. and much of the rest of the developed world shun Russia because of the carnage in Ukraine.

Last week, North Korean-built rockets began appearing on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Financial Times reported. The Biden administration accused Moscow of seeking munitions from Pyongyang to fuel its faltering invasion.

The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin honored Pyongyang by dispatching a top-level delegation to North Korea last month for lavish official ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the end of Korean War hostilities. The Russian delegation, led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, visited an arms expo and was given a place of honor on the reviewing stand beside North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a Pyongyang military parade.

In the wake of the visit, Vladimir Solovyov, a longtime TV presenter and one of Russia’s most vocal media figures, urged a policy shift toward North Korea, given the warmth of the reception for Mr. Shoigu. Street interviews suggest that the public is also under pressure to reconsider formerly negative attitudes toward Mr. Kim’s secretive and mercurial state.

“The recent pro-North Korean hysteria in Russia is orchestrated by Putin himself, whose maiden foreign visit was to Pyongyang in 2000,” said Leonid Petrov, a Russia-born Korea watcher at the International College of Management in Sydney, Australia. “Both dictatorships desperately need each other to hide their economic impotence and to boost their killing capacities.”

Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who resigned in protest after the invasion of Ukraine, said North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, weak economy and role as a “junior partner” to China traditionally left it on the periphery of Russian foreign policy.

“Moscow’s increased attention to Pyongyang became increasingly more noticeable with the onset of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine,” Mr. Bondarev wrote recently for the Eurasia Daily Monitor. “As such, [North Korea] remains one of the few ‘allies’ of Russia that consistently supports President Vladimir Putin’s confrontational course.”

Mr. Putin hinted at rapidly warming ties in his official statement congratulating the Kim regime on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.

“The historical experience of [Russian-North Korean] camaraderie,” Mr. Putin said, “serves as a solid foundation for efforts to further develop political, economic and security ties between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Preserving and building on the glorious traditions of friendship, neighborly relations and mutual assistance has paramount importance in the face of today’s threats and challenges.”

Russia is shifting its stance as the key global body designed to rein in Mr. Kim’s regime is hobbled. A diplomat who formerly sat on the U.N. Panel of Experts, which researches breaches and loopholes in Security Council sanctions, recently revealed his frustration at how Russia and China are undermining the measures targeting North Korea.

Interests aligned

Mr. Solovyov, a hard-liner on the Ukraine war, often features prominent members of the Russian government on his TV talk show. Last week, he aired video footage from a Pyongyang concert that Mr. Shoigu and Mr. Kim attended and said the two regimes’ interests had become increasingly aligned.

“There is Korea, and there is South Korea, which is temporarily occupied by the American dirtbags,” Mr. Solovyov said. “We have to support the great Korea. These are the people who, despite the fact that we have supported sanctions against them, demonstrated their love and affection to us.”

The footage featured female vocalists singing in Russian, backed by a military band playing in front of a giant screen showcasing apocalyptic war footage and Russian military parades.

Mr. Solovyov demanded the dispatch of “food, military, technological aid of any kind.” He urged Moscow to “lift all the sanctions we can lift” and offer “military cooperation to the max.”

“I can’t remember anything like this, at a time when everyone is cursing us,” he said, noting Russia’s isolation on the world stage. He also referenced Russian viewpoints of North Korea: “This is the country which we mentioned with a smirk.”

That viewpoint remains controversial inside Russia.

The 1420 YouTube channel, which canvasses opinions in street interviews across Russia, shows an episode asking ordinary citizens whether North Korea should be considered Russia’s “friend.” 

Respondents appeared uncomfortable when asked whether Russia was becoming a North Korea-style state.

The North Koreans have “that old USSR-ish political regime, where they are afraid to say something against their government,” Andrey, 21, told interviewers. “One Korea adopted the USSR mindset, the other decided to move toward the West. … I think moving toward the West equals progress and development.”

“Bro, if I’m not mistaken, North Korea has very ugly conditions,” said Kirill, identified as a 34-year-old chef.

Asked whether Russia should lean closer to North Korea, Ararat, a 23-year-old entrepreneur, said, “I don’t think it’s a problem. We need some strategic partners. … Politics is not about friendship; it’s about strategy.”

Widening rift

Eric Penton-Voak, a British diplomat who served on the U.N. Panel of Experts for two years before his recent retirement, told reporters in Seoul last week that major world powers’ rifts over North Korea have widened since Russia invaded Ukraine. Though Pyongyang accelerated missile tests in 2022, Beijing and Moscow blocked U.S.-led attempts in the Security Council for tougher U.N. sanctions.

On the eight-member Panel of Experts, he said, “Two colleagues act consistently in the interests of their own countries and misuse the principle of consensus to prevent the panel reaching the conclusions they should.” Asked whether those members were from China and Russia, he answered affirmatively.

“There is no way to improve this situation,” he said. “The whole system is deadlocked.”

He criticized Beijing and Moscow for sending official delegations to “Victory Day” celebrations in Pyongyang and noted that the climactic military parade featured intercontinental ballistic missiles banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“It speaks volumes about the future of the sanctions regime,” he said. “To have representatives of two [Security Council] permanent members applauding a Hwasong-17 [ICBM], a weapon created entirely in breach of sanctions, says it all, really.”

He said he feared that the smuggling of materials for weapons of mass destruction, such as missile components and fuel, has risen. “The increase in pace [of testing] suggests that the trajectories have been upward,” he said.

Even so, Mr. Penton-Voak said, China and Russia might balk at one particular North Korean act.

“If there were a nuclear test, it is up to member states to decide what the Security Council can do, and the Security Council can do nothing without agreement,” he said. “I don’t know how Russia and China would respond to a nuclear test.”