Russian nuclear development: concern in the West after the Putin-Kim summit

(France24).- After his visits this week to North Korea and Vietnam, Russian President Vladimir Putin sought alliances and signed agreements that are causing greater alarm among Western powers. This June 21, South Korea called Moscow’s ambassador for consultations regarding the security pact signed with Pyongyang that includes mutual defense against a possible attack on one of its countries.

For its part, the United States is “incredibly concerned” about Putin’s threat to supply weapons to North Korea. The alarms are set off even more: in the last few hours, the Kremlin leader warned that he will continue to develop his nuclear arsenal “to preserve the balance of power.”

Isolated by much of the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin returned to the diplomatic scene after his tour of North Korea and Vietnam. A media exhibition outside the focus of the war in Ukraine that has raised dust in the international community due to the new steps that involve his war machinery.

Alerts are raised from the Korean Peninsula to the United States. This Friday, June 21, Seoul’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kim Hong Kyun, summoned the Russian ambassador, Georgy Zinoviev, to protest the agreement between Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

And last Wednesday, June 19, the man who has governed Russia for more than 20 years signed the so-called Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement; a pact that includes a mutual defense clause, under which each country agrees to help the other repel possible external aggression.

Although neither Moscow nor Pyongyang disclosed how this mutual cooperation would proceed if the defense clause was activated, Kim stressed that the pact “will become a driving force that accelerates the creation of a new multipolar world.”

The new security and defense pact between Moscow and Pyongyang was announced at a time when concerns are growing between Western allies, Japan and South Korea, over an alleged arms deal through which North Korea provides Russia with munitions that it uses in the war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic aid and technology to strengthen the North Korean nuclear program.

Although the two leaders deny these actions, which would violate multiple UN Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang for its nuclear actions, sources in Washington and Seoul accuse Kim of supplying Putin with artillery, missiles and other military equipment to fuel its aggression in Ukraine in exchange for key technological and military assistance. If doubts remained, for the allies they have been cleared up after the signing of the new pact, which leads Seoul to take measures.

The South Korean diplomat stressed this Friday that any cooperation that directly or indirectly helps the North develop its military capabilities would violate UN Security Council resolutions and represent a threat to the South’s security. Therefore, he warned of the consequences for Seoul’s relations with Moscow.

But far from pressuring Russia for its actions, Ambassador Zinoviev was defiant, telling Korean officials that any attempt to “threaten or blackmail” his country is unacceptable. Furthermore, he stressed that the agreement between the Kremlin and North Korea is not directed at specific third countries. However, the South Korean Ministry indicated that the Moscow diplomat promised to convey Seoul’s concerns to his superiors.

An even closer alliance between Russia and South Korea that the Kremlin justifies in the weapons support that Ukraine receives from Western allies to defend itself from the Russian invasion that Putin ordered more than two years ago.

Putin increased his threats after Washington authorized the Ukrainian Army on May 30 to use the weapons provided to it to attack Russian territory. A measure that was later joined by Germany and France, which increased the Kremlin’s fury. All while border tensions continue to rise with vague threats and brief, seemingly accidental incursions by North Korean troops.

Psychological offensive?: the Korean peninsula in Cold War-style actions

Leaflet campaigns by South Korean civil activists in recent weeks have sparked the resumption of Cold War-style psychological warfare along the border between the two Koreas. South Korean civil activists, led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said they sent 20 balloons carrying 300,000 propaganda leaflets, 5,000 USB flash drives with South Korean pop songs and television series, and 3,000 US dollar bills from the South Korean border town of Paju. , on the night of Thursday, June 20.

In response, Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s powerful sister, called the activists “defecting scum” and threatened retaliation. Pyongyang resents such material and fears it could demoralize frontline troops as well as residents and ultimately weaken Kim Jong-Un’s grip on power, analysts note.

Seoul has also denounced in recent days that North Korea has also sent balloons carrying garbage and excrement to its territory. The AP news agency highlights that there is evidence that North Korea is building walls at points along the border, days after several of its soldiers were killed or injured while clearing land in areas full of mines.

For its part, the British network ‘BBC’ reported that high-resolution satellite images of a 7 km stretch of the border area appeared to show at least three sections where barriers have been built. “My personal assessment is that this is the first time they have built a barrier in the sense of separating places from each other,” Uk Yang, a military and defense expert at the Asan Institute of Policy Studies in Seoul, told AP.

Experts believe the intrusions could be related to the large number of troops North Korea has deployed to fortify the border, possibly to prevent civilians and soldiers from defecting to the South.

“Preserve the balance of power”: Putin increases the bet on his nuclear program

Russia, the nation with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, surpassing even the United States, once again puts this power on the table to challenge its adversaries. This Friday, Putin warned that his country will continue to develop its nuclear weapons arsenal “to preserve the balance of power in the world.”

“We plan to continue developing the nuclear triad as a guarantee of strategic deterrence and to preserve the balance of power in the world,” said the Kremlin leader during a ceremony attended by graduates of military, police and intelligence services academies.

The Russian nuclear triad is a reference to its nuclear missiles launched from land, sea and air. Its growing ally, North Korea, is also expanding its atomic capabilities despite the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council.

With the latest movements, the Moscow-Pyongyang duo would aim to reinforce their strategy in this field. Although the North Korean nuclear program already has intercontinental ballistic missiles with the potential ability to reach US soil, Kim requires greater technological help from abroad to advance his program significantly.

And, according to the West, there are already signs that Moscow is supplying technologies for the development of space rockets and military reconnaissance satellites, crucial help in increasing the capacity of its missiles.

After Putin’s tour of Asia, the United States warns that nuclear cooperation between the two governments isolated by the West could destabilize the Korean peninsula. Putin’s suggestion that Russia could supply weapons to North Korea is “incredibly worrying,” said Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the US State Department.

“It would destabilize the Korean Peninsula, of course, and potentially, depending on the type of weapons they provide, violate UN Security Council resolutions that Russia itself has supported” in the past, Miller noted.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korea’s Foreign Ministry added that the treaty between Russia and North Korea represents a “serious threat” to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Blinken indicated that Joe Biden’s Administration would consider “various measures” in response to the pact, which raised ties between states affected by sanctions to their highest level since the Cold War. Friction over arms shipments to both sides of the war in Ukraine has worsened this week, amid speculation that Putin and Kim discussed additional supplies of North Korean missiles and ammunition for use by Russian forces.

But the latest clashes between Seoul and Pyongyang point to actions beyond their borders. And, after the new agreement between North Korea and Russia, the South Korean authorities announced that they are evaluating the shipment of weapons to Ukraine. For Putin, reciprocal supplies of Russian weapons to North Korea would be an “appropriate” response to the West’s supply of weapons to Ukrainian forces.

“Those who send those missiles to Ukraine think they are not fighting us, but I said, even in Pyongyang, that we reserve the right to supply weapons to other regions of the world, in compliance with our agreements” with North Korea (…) No “I rule it out,” he reiterated.