North Korea Helps Out Russia in Key Way

North Korea and Russia are experiencing renewed relations due to the Ukraine War. North Korea has been supporting Russia by sending it some of its munitions stock, including short range ballistic missiles.

In exchange, Russia has been supporting the regime diplomatically and militarily. NATO members are afraid that the extra ammunition will tip the scales heavily in Russia’s favor. The New York Times says:

When Russia turned to Kim Jong-un of North Korea to help it through its war with Ukraine, it came with a big shopping list that included a million rounds of artillery to shoot at Ukrainian troops dug into trenches across the south and east, and dozens of North Korea’s newest, barely tested missiles.

Now those weapons are beginning to show up, deeply worrying U.S. and European officials who say they fear the North’s ammunition could prove important on the battlefield at a huge moment of vulnerability for Ukraine.

Both countries see the West as their enemy seeking world domination. North Korea is particularly happy to benefit, as it lacks civilian technology in many sectors that Russia is happy to provide. CNN looks at the closer cooperation between Russia and North Korea:

Last Tuesday, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow to discuss issues regarding the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia and international peace and security, according to TASS.

At that meeting the two sides expressed a “strong will to further strengthen strategic and tactical cooperation in defending the core interests of the two countries,” KCNA said.

A rapprochement between Russia and North Korea is also very concerning if the two coordinate militarily. If Russia and North Korea can time attacks together, the US would be faced with a two front war in Europe and the Korean Peninsula. Combined with China and the Middle East, this could be more than what the US military can handle without serious reorganization and expansion.