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Quotes of the Day:


"Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation." 
– Coretta Scott King

"If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. Because the goal of America is freedom, abused and scorned tho' we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny." 
 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"What historical narrative are we willing to weave in order to remind people not only that we were here enduring the trials but that we stared the fang-toothed wolves of injustice in the face and said, 'No more.'"
 Travon Free



1. How Putin and Kim Stand to Gain From a Rare Visit That’s Troubling the West

2. Russia’s Putin, ‘desperate’ for ammunition, arrives in North Korea

3. Kim, Putin have much to discuss at summit as tired old relationship gets new legs

4. Putin and Kim Jong-un, Autocrats Brought Closer by War, Meet in Pyongyang

5. Putin says Russia and North Korea have vowed to aid each other if attacked in new partnership deal

6. Putin gets lavish welcome in North Korea

7. Putin signs partnership pact with Kim as Pyongyang welcomes Russian leader with fanfare

8. Putin touches down in Pyongyang, says 'heroic people' of North Korea will 'confront' West with Russia

9. Historic Meeting to Be Specially Recorded in Great Heyday of DPRK-Russia Friendship President of Russian Federation Arrives in Pyongyang

10. Kim declares N. Korea's relations with Russia upgraded to alliance

11. Accountability at Last? Exploring Prospects of Universal Jurisdiction on the Korean Peninsula

12. Hanwha eyes Norway, Sweden for rocket artillery sales

13. Putin's rare visit to North Korea shortened due to his late arrival

14. Blinken vows to do 'everything' to cut off N.K. support for Russia ahead of Kim-Putin summit

15.  Putin, N. Korea's Kim start summit talks amid concerns over deepening military cooperation

16. Romania to buy S. Korean K-9 howitzers for US$920 mln

17. TikTok star Munya Chawawa takes on North Korea in new documentary – it follows a long tradition of western media poking fun at the Kim family’s regime





1. How Putin and Kim Stand to Gain From a Rare Visit That’s Troubling the West


Just for context, my comments at the end of the article were in response to whether Russia would refrain from providing Kim high technology support for its nuclear and missile programs as some have speculated. 



How Putin and Kim Stand to Gain From a Rare Visit That’s Troubling the West

The authoritarian leaders are deepening their military, commercial and political alliance


https://www.wsj.com/world/vladimir-putin-north-korea-visit-kim-jong-un-171a10d7?mod=hp_lista_pos2

By Dasl YoonFollow and Ann M. SimmonsFollow

Updated June 18, 2024 6:02 pm ET

Deepening military and economic cooperation between Russia and North Korea is helping sustain the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine and offering Pyongyang a technological boost, feeding unease in China and the West about the increasingly intimate relationship between the two authoritarian countries.

In recent months, expansionist Russia and reclusive North Korea have exchanged everything from food and oil to weapons. As the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine drags on, Russian President Vladimir Putin has looked to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to help restock his depleted arsenal. In turn, Moscow plans to transfer military technology to nuclear-armed Pyongyang, a move that could further the rogue state’s weapons capabilities, unnerving Western powers.

Putin’s visit to North Korea, which began early Wednesday morning local time and is only his second time in the reclusive nation in more than two decades, serves a dual purpose for the two leaders. Each wants to extract more from the other while rattling the West, analysts said. 

For Washington, military cooperation between its authoritarian adversaries increases the potential for prolonged regional conflicts and the overstretch of its military capabilities. 


North Korea decorated a road in the capital Pyongyang to honor Putin during his visit this week.  PHOTO: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/TASS/ZUMA PRESS

growing North Korean nuclear and missile threat, which could trigger greater U.S. military presence in the region, is also worrisome for China.

“The situation in the world, including the Asia-Pacific region, is very tense,” said Alexander Zhebin, a lead researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Center for Korean Studies at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia. “Strengthening ties and cooperation with all countries that support Russia’s policy is obviously very important, now more than ever.”

North Korea has been one of the few countries to vocally support Russia’s war effort, and sits squarely in opposition to the West, a stance increasingly adopted by Putin as he rails against the U.S.-led global order

Ahead of the visit, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the international community to counter what he described as “the lonely bromance” between Putin and Kim by increasing arms supplies to Kyiv.

“The best way to respond to it is to continue strengthening the diplomatic coalition for just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Kuleba told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

North Korea is also among the only countries where Putin can travel without fear of detention since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him. Pyongyang doesn’t recognize the court.

Kim greeted Putin at the airport in the early hours of Wednesday. The two leaders, taking Putin’s private car, passed through “charmingly lit streets” en route to North Korea’s state guest house, having “exchanged their pent-up inmost thoughts” and “opened their minds” to broader collaboration, Pyongyang’s state media reported.

North Korea has already delivered more than 10,000 containers of munitions or related materiel to Russia since Putin and Kim met in Russia’s Far East in September, according to the State Department. Russia and North Korea deny trading arms


A firefighter in January extinguished flames of a missile that Ukrainian authorities said was made in North Korea. PHOTO: REUTERS

Weapons transfers from heavily sanctioned North Korea violate at least 10 United Nations Security Council resolutions. In March, Russia blocked the extension of a U.N. panel that monitored violations of international sanctions against North Korea. Moscow’s shift from agreeing to adopt sanctions to voting against additional ones could be part of the Kremlin’s move to “more openly engage in banned trade” with North Korea, according to a May report by the Congressional Research Service. 

In May, North Korea’s U.N. ambassador condemned Western countries for exploring replacements for the dissolved U.N. panel and urged them to reconsider their “hostile policy” toward North Korea, according to North Korean state media. 

In February, South Korea’s defense minister said Russia was providing North Korea with food, raw materials and parts for weapons manufacturing in exchange for the millions of artillery shells Pyongyang was sending.

Yuri Ushakov, a foreign-policy adviser to Putin, told journalists Monday that it was possible that Russia and North Korea would sign a new agreement on a comprehensive strategic partnership when Putin and Kim meet, replacing three earlier such pacts, he said.

For Kim, Putin’s visit will boost the nations’ burgeoning military cooperation. An enhanced relationship with Russia has allowed North Korea to acquire foreign currency by selling weapons, avoid additional international sanctions and gain support for its ambitious spy satellite program, while irking the U.S.

After the failure last month of a military reconnaissance satellite to launch into orbit from North Korea, Kim will be looking for Russian expertise for its space program and possibly ways to increase its weapons production, Pyongyang watchers say. 


People in Artyom, Russia, check in for a flight to Pyongyang. PHOTO: YURI SMITYUK/TASS/ZUMA PRESS

Russia has said it would assist with North Korea’s satellite program and, along with Beijing, has proved unwilling to slow Pyongyang’s expansion of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

White House spokesman John Kirby said in January that Pyongyang was seeking military assistance from Moscow for fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and ballistic missile production. Ukrainian officials have located debris from dozens of North Korean missiles on the battlefield, which has become a kind of testing ground for Kim to gauge how his newer short-range missiles perform.

North Korea and Iran’s weapons have allowed Russia to “get back up on their feet” in its war with Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told U.S. lawmakers in May. 

The Kremlin has defended its growing partnership with Pyongyang.

“We believe that our right to develop good relations with our neighbors should not cause concern to anyone and cannot and should not be disputed by anyone,” presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week.

Russia may be wary of giving away advanced technology related to its intercontinental ballistic missile program, especially because it could upset friends such as China who view North Korea’s growing weapons program as a threat to the region, said Peter Ward, a North Korea researcher at Sejong Institute in South Korea. 

“But there is incentive from the Russian side to transfer production technologies to allow North Korea to produce munitions more effectively, because whether it be shells or missiles, Russia needs more,” Ward said.


Army personnel at a mobile recruitment center in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, during an event in March. PHOTO: SERGEY PIVOVAROV/REUTERS

North Korea will be looking for economic help as well, through discounted oil and grain and through tourism. Russians were the first tourists to visit North Korea earlier this year when the country opened its borders following the Covid pandemic, and Moscow has been shipping petroleum to the pariah state at levels that exceed U.N. sanctions’ limits. 

A record number of North Korean delegations have visited Russia this year, including a group overseeing North Korea’s migrant workers. The issue of migrant labor is critical for Russia, which faces a labor shortage as a result of its war in Ukraine. Russian officials in Siberia and the Far East have expressed an interest in employing North Koreans.

“First, these are cheap and skilled workers,” said Fyodor Tertitskiy, a senior researcher at the Institute for Korean Studies at Kookmin University in Seoul. “Second, the Russian Far East is in a desperate need for a workforce because most of Russia’s [current] labor migration comes from Central Asia and these people usually settle in the European part of the country.”

Before a 2019 deadline for U.N. countries to expel North Korean workers, Pyongyang had hundreds of thousands of laborers overseas earning foreign currency for the regime. 

Pyongyang’s arms sales are a critical national security issue for the U.S., yet Washington has been unable to aggressively enforce sanctions to limit proliferation because of Chinese and Russian support for North Korea, said David Maxwell, a former U.S. Army Special Forces colonel with extensive experience in Asia. Conflicts such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have stretched Washington’s resources thin and could leave the U.S. unprepared to deal with the growing threat from North Korea, he added. 

“We shouldn’t assume Russia is ever going to act in parallel to our interests,” Maxwell said. “Putin may be happy to let North Korea create more dilemmas for the U.S.”

Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com and Ann M. Simmons at ann.simmons@wsj.com



2. Russia’s Putin, ‘desperate’ for ammunition, arrives in North Korea



I think it is about a little but more than ammunition.



Russia’s Putin, ‘desperate’ for ammunition, arrives in North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin, looking for diplomatic and military support, signed a ‘comprehensive’ agreement with Kim Jong Un during a rare visit to Pyongyang.


By Michelle Ye Hee Lee

Updated June 19, 2024 at 6:05 a.m. EDT|Published June 18, 2024 at 7:56 p.m. EDT

The Washington Post · by Michelle Ye Hee Lee · June 18, 2024

SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “warmly” embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival in Pyongyang early Wednesday morning, saying the two sanctioned states had withstood the “trials of history generation after generation and century after century.”

Before his arrival, his first trip to North Korea in nearly a quarter-century, Putin thanked Kim for “firmly supporting” his war against Ukraine, fueling concerns the two leaders will use this visit to deepen their military partnership in the face of Western efforts to isolate them.

Washington and its allies have raised concerns about the growing military cooperation between the two states at a time when Moscow is hungry for munitions to use in its war against Ukraine. North Korea is believed to have a large stockpile of dated artillery shells and rockets that would be compatible with Soviet and Russian weapons systems used in Ukraine.

The State Department on Tuesday said North Korea had “unlawfully transfer[ed] dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions to aid Russia’s war effort” in recent months.

The trip highlights how dependent Putin has become on Kim as he shuns the West and seeks partners to support his war in Ukraine, said Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia.

“I think the fact that Putin has to come all the way to North Korea to pay his respects underscores how desperate he is for the ammunition he needs from North Korea,” McFaul said. “That is a giant reversal from 10 to 20 years ago when Putin was the powerful one. Now he needs weapons, and he needs Kim Jong Un, and he needs weapons for his war in Ukraine.”

As Putin stepped off his plane onto a red carpet, Kim greeted him with a handshake and a hug, according to footage captured by Russian media. The streets of Pyongyang were lined with Russian flags and banners welcoming Putin, Russian media videos show. Kim rode in his private car with Putin to the Kumsusan State guesthouse, where the Russian leader will stay, North Korean state media said.

Putin arrived with a large delegation of top government officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Mantrov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Nobak and Minister of Defense Andrei Beloussov, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea is scheduled to host a welcome ceremony Wednesday afternoon. Then the two leaders will have a “tete-a-tete during a stroll about the North Korean leader’s residence and a tea party,” Russia’s Tass news agency reported.

The two-day summit program will be “very intensive,” Yuri Ushakov, top foreign policy adviser to Putin, told state media on Monday. The two leaders are expected to hold meetings Wednesday on ways to strengthen their strategic cooperation on a range of issues, including security matters, according to Russian state media.

The two leaders are likely to deepen their efforts to counter U.S.-led sanctions and isolation of Putin over his invasion of Ukraine and Kim over his pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Putin made a nod to such efforts in an article published Tuesday in KCNA: “We will develop alternative trade and mutual settlements mechanisms not controlled by the West, jointly oppose illegitimate unilateral restrictions, and shape the architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia.”

Putin’s trip reciprocates Kim’s visit to Russia’s Far East in September, when the North Korean leader called his country’s relations with Russia his top priority and pledged support for Moscow’s “sacred struggle” against Ukraine.

McFaul said Putin’s pivot to become closer with Kim reflects the Russian leader’s shift in how he views Russia’s role in reining in North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic ambitions.

“Earlier in his career, he still wanted to be a part of the international community of states … with regards to proliferation, that put Russia on our side when it came to North Korea,” he said. “That’s completely changed now. I think Putin has just decided he’s done being a stakeholder in the international community. … I think as long as he’s the leader of Russia, Russia has pivoted.”

The White House has repeatedly accused North Korea of sending “equipment and munitions” to Russia to replenish its dwindling supplies for the war in Ukraine, including ballistic missiles with a range of roughly 550 miles and missile launchers.

In addition, North Korea has a production capacity that would help Russia maintain its high ammunition burn rate as the Kremlin seeks to scale up domestic production.

These dynamics have given Kim a rare bargaining chip. It’s a reversal in their relationship, given North Korea’s history of military dependence on the Soviet Union, including in its Soviet-supported invasion of the South that sparked the 1950-1953 Korean War.

“This summit serves as both a testament to the current strength of the relationship between the two countries and a harbinger of an even stronger partnership in the future,” said Lami Kim, professor at Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

Kim added that the two leaders’ economic and military cooperation “will further undermine the effectiveness of sanctions against North Korea, enhance North Korea’s military capabilities, and elevate Kim Jong Un’s legitimacy to rule internally.”

The visit will also highlight the longevity of autocratic leadership in both countries: Putin last visited North Korea 24 years ago, soon after he became president for the first time, when the country was led by Kim Jong Il, the current leader’s father.

Their meeting has highlighted how China could respond to warming relations between Pyongyang and Moscow — what China might seek to gain from it or what it would do to do deter it. Chinese leader Xi Jinping stands with Putin and Kim in their objective of reshaping global power and ending the dominance of the United States in world affairs. But China does not want to see North Korea emboldened in its nuclear ambitions.

When Xi and Putin met in China in May, the two leaders agreed to hold “constructive dialogue” with North Korea on allowing Chinese vessels to navigate from the Tumen River to the Sea of Japan, or the East Sea, according to their joint statement.

Putin’s trip to Pyongyang, China hopes, could speed up discussions in this regard and pave way for trilateral development of the region, said Ba Dianjun, a professor of Northeast Asian Research Center at Jilin University.

“China raised the issue before, but it didn’t work out because our economies were developing at an uneven pace,” Ba said, explaining that Russia was concerned about this access giving China too much control in Northeast Asia while North Korea found it more profitable to lease port facilities to China. Ba’s views echo Chinese state media talking points.

“The world looks vastly different now, and we have restarted the efforts and are on the right track,” Ba said, pointing to a renewed interest in doubling down on regional economic cooperation as China, North Korea and Russia are all dealing with respective economic woes.

Lyric Li in Seoul contributed to this report.

The Washington Post · by Michelle Ye Hee Lee · June 18, 2024


3.  Kim, Putin have much to discuss at summit as tired old relationship gets new legs



Kim, Putin have much to discuss at summit as tired old relationship gets new legs

Full agenda may include weapons, tech transfers, port access and fuel, food sales

washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon


Video

By - The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 18, 2024

A version of this article appeared in the daily Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each weekday.


SEOUL, South Korea — Call them “foul weather friends.”

The leaders of two heavily sanctioned states postured against the U.S. and its allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had much to discuss after Mr. Putin landed in Pyongyang early Wednesday for a much-anticipated two-day summit.

News reports from Pyongyang said Mr. Kim was at the capital’s airport to greet his guest personally. The city’s streets were decorated with portraits of Mr. Putin and Russian flags, The Associated Press reported.

In an op-ed that ran in North Korean media just hours before his scheduled arrival, Mr. Putin wrote that the two heavily sanctioned nations have a common interest in “resolutely oppos[ing]” Western ambitions to “hinder the establishment of a multipolarized world order based on mutual respect for justice.”

He thanked Mr. Kim’s regime for supporting Russia’s actions in Ukraine and wrote that he and Mr. Kim would upgrade trade and payment systems while jointly opposing sanctions.

The Kremlin said Mr. Putin would spend just one night in Pyongyang before proceeding to Vietnam, but considerable diplomatic foundations already had been laid.

Aides said Mr. Putin was accompanied by several top officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Denis Mantrurov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russian officials said the leaders would sign several documents, possibly including an agreement on a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim met in the fall at a satellite launch center in the Russian Far East.

Rekindling an old relationship

On his first trip to North Korea in 24 years, Mr. Putin is reforging a relationship that eroded after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 as he seeks badly needed allies for his military campaign in Ukraine.

“For post-Gorbachev, pre-2014 RussiaNorth Korea was always toxic, but after the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Russia doesn’t care what the West thinks,” said Leonid Petrov, a Russian-born academic and North Korea watcher who is a fellow at Australian National University.

A display of bilateral bonhomie was anticipated in one area where Pyongyang boasts world-class competence: midnight parades of massed military manpower and weaponry.

The visit makes North Korea look like “a bigger player in global politics than it should be,” Jenny Town, a co-founder of the Stimson Center’s North Korean analytical website 38 North, told Seoul-based reporters.

More is at stake than chummy optics. The emerging North Korea-Russia axis offers both players multiple opportunities and allows Mr. Kim to loosen an uneasy long-term dependency on China.

After the Soviet Union’s dissolution, North Korea’s economy collapsed, leaving it massively reliant on Beijing for goods, including fuel, food and medicine, and generating under-the-radar frictions.

Now, with Western enmity forcing Moscow to resurrect old partnerships, Pyongyang gains a friend that is a diplomatic, economic and military powerhouse.

North Korea gets “immediate and tangible results in terms of economic and agricultural cooperation and trade as well as military cooperation, which it has not had since the 1990s,” Ms. Town said.

Closed-door discussions are unlikely to be aired.

“I don’t expect major pronouncements to come out,” Ms. Town said. “The activities they are doing are technically sanctioned, to begin with, and there is a reluctance to put that down on paper.”

Upgraded relations carry rich potential. North Korea is geographically unsuited to agriculture, partly explaining its perennial food shortages, and lacks domestic energy sources. Russia is blessed with grain and oil.

The Kremlin, heavily engaged in Ukraine, needs munitions to feed its hungry guns. North Korea boasts massive stockpiles and a huge military-industrial complex. Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean general, estimated it at 26% of gross domestic product.

The North’s artillery uses the same Warsaw Pact calibers — notably 152 mm howitzer shells and 122 mm tactical rockets — as Russia’sNorth Korea is showing signs of accelerating manufacturing.

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that early ammunition sent to Russia had a lot of quality problems, and ammunition there now has higher performance, so it is presumably newly manufactured — not from stockpiles,” said Ms. Town, noting state media images recently showing Mr. Kim touring arms factories and urging greater production.

Russian TV pundits have discussed inviting North Korea’s disciplined and low-cost labor force to rebuild infrastructure conquered by Russian arms in Ukraine.

Another area where Russia could benefit is naval access to a warm-water North Korean port on the East Sea/Sea of Japan. That would offer dispersal opportunities for Moscow’s Pacific Fleet, currently based in Vladivostok, a cold-water port.

It could deploy Russian troops on the same divided peninsula as 28,000 American soldiers.

“Being locked in frozen borders is inconvenient,” said Mr. Petrov, adding that a Russian presence in North Korea would be “strategically close to South Korea, where U.S. troops are stationed.”

China lacks ports on the East Sea/Sea of Japan, so expanded Russian reach “would be much in line with the growing tensions in the region,” Mr. Petrov said.

Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Kookmin University, noted that the port of Rason in the northeast has dual-gauge rail tracks, enabling trains to roll directly to and from North Korea’s border and Russia’s vast rail network.

Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim have tensions to navigate.

One is Pyongyang’s fiercely independent national mindset. Although U.S. troops have remained in the South since an armistice ended Korean War hostilities in 1953, Chinese troops departed the North in 1958.

North Korea was “very persistent in getting rid of foreign troop presence in their country,” said Mr. Lankov. “They worked really hard to get the Chinese out.”

Russia is thought to have extended assistance to North Korea’s most recent reconnaissance satellite launch in May. Mr. Kim was not pleased with the launch’s failure.

“At a recent plenum, Kim Jong-un said it was ‘anti-revolutionary’ to be dependent on foreign military technology and technical assistance,” Ms. Town said.

More than transactional

Some say the rejuvenated Moscow-Pyongyang axis is purely transactional, but others think the warming could be sustainable.

Both countries are confronting a worldwide bloc of prosperous democracies. Russia, which holds a permanent seat on the Security Council, has moved to shelter North Korea from international sanctions, which is a matter of deep frustration for Washington.

“Their cooperation is not just about UkraineRussia talks about its ‘War Against the West’ and wants to build an alternative to the U.S.-led world order,” said Ms. Town. “There is reason to believe that Russia sees value in North Korea as a military partner … which does incentivize them to do more with North Korea beyond arms deals supplementing their warfighting in Ukraine.”

• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

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4. Putin and Kim Jong-un, Autocrats Brought Closer by War, Meet in Pyongyang



Putin and Kim Jong-un, Autocrats Brought Closer by War, Meet in Pyongyang


By Choe Sang-Hun and Paul Sonne

Reporting from Seoul and Berlin

June 19, 2024

Updated 4:50 a.m. ET

The New York Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · June 19, 2024

A need for munitions to use against Ukraine is forcing Russia’s leader to deepen his ties with North Korea’s, in an alliance that’s raising alarms in the West.

Listen to this article · 4:47 min Learn more


Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, welcoming President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to Pyongyang early Wednesday, in an image released by the North’s state media.


By

Reporting from Seoul

June 19, 2024, 12:04 a.m. ET

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, in his first visit to the country in nearly a quarter-century on Wednesday, as the two autocrats vowed to build a joint front against the United States and deepen bilateral ties that Washington fears will include more arms trade.

Mr. Putin is the first major head of state to visit North Korea since the pandemic, highlighting its importance to Russia: It is one of the few like-minded countries able and willing to supply Moscow with badly needed conventional weapons for its war in Ukraine.

Mr. Kim gave Mr. Putin a red-carpet welcome early Wednesday in Pyongyang, the North’s capital. His energy-starved government flooded downtown Pyongyang with bright lights as the two leaders were driven in the same car — the Russian-made Aurus limousine that Mr. Putin gave Mr. Kim last year — to the state guesthouse.

The convoy transporting Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin through Pyongyang early Wednesday, in another image from North Korean state media.

Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine has brought the two leaders closer than ever before, and they were expected to hold talks on Wednesday before Mr. Putin moves on to Vietnam.

Mr. Putin has received artillery shells and missiles from North Korea to help fuel his drawn-out war in Ukraine, and he is widely expected to seek more of them on this trip. For his part, Mr. Kim covets Russian help in easing his country’s oil shortages, improving its weapons systems and undermining Washington’s attempts to strangle its economy with international sanctions.

The Putin-Kim alliance has alarmed Washington and its allies, particularly South Korea, because it threatens to undermine their efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. It also presents a threat to the global push for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. Moscow once joined the United States in imposing United Nations sanctions on countries like North Korea and Iran over their nuclear programs, but those days seem to be over.

“I don’t think he’ll ever sign up to that again,” said Michael A. McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia and the director of Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, referring to Mr. Putin. “I think he’s decided we’re the enemy, the liberal international order that the United States anchors is over, and he wants to see its destruction.”

Weeks before Mr. Putin’s trip, Moscow used its veto power at the U.N. Security Council to disband a panel of U.N. experts that helped to enforce sanctions aimed at making it more difficult for North Korea to develop its nuclear arsenal.

The alliance between Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin, shown in a photograph provided by Russian state media on Wednesday, has alarmed Washington and its allies.Credit...Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik

In a column published in Rodong Sinmun, the North’s main state-run newspaper, on the eve of his arrival, Mr. Putin denounced the United States’ “worldwide neocolonialist dictatorship” and lauded Mr. Kim for resisting “the U.S. economic pressure, provocation, blackmail and military threats.”

North Korea’s economy has been devastated by sanctions, and Mr. Kim is intent on capitalizing on the partnership with Mr. Putin. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday called the deepening ties between the two leaders “an engine for accelerating the building of a new multipolar world.” Rodong said the two nations were “in the same trench” in the struggle against Washington and its allies.

Mr. Putin’s visit to North Korea “demonstrates that our security is not regional. It’s global,” NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said in Washington on Tuesday at a joint news conference with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.

“What happens in Europe matters for Asia, and what happens in Asia matters for us,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. “This is clearly demonstrated in Ukraine, where Iran, North Korea, China are propping up, fueling Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Analysts were closely watching to see how much — and what types of — military and economic support Mr. Kim might get from Mr. Putin.

NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, left, with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Washington on Tuesday. Mr. Stoltenberg said North Korea was among the countries “fueling Russia’s war of aggression” in Ukraine.Credit...Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press

“He’s not just going to give away all the things that Putin wants for nothing, and I worry that this will be the beginning of military assistance that will lead to, you know, a modernization of” North Korea’s weapons systems, such as launch vehicles for nuclear weapons, Mr. McFaul said. “I fear that now all bets could be off, and this is one area where Russia has real capabilities that could make the North Korean military-industrial complex stronger.”

North Korea’s military has long been ridiculed for its backward technologies and vast stockpile of outdated Soviet-era weaponry, such as artillery shells. But the fact that Mr. Putin was visiting Pyongyang for the first time since 2000 demonstrated how such old-fashioned munitions are among those that Russia most desperately needs in its war of attrition in Ukraine.

Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun

See more on: Vladimir PutinKim Jong-un

Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun

Paul Sonne is an international correspondent, focusing on Russia and the varied impacts of President Vladimir V. Putin’s domestic and foreign policies, with a focus on the war against Ukraine. More about Paul Sonne



The New York Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · June 19, 2024


5. Putin says Russia and North Korea have vowed to aid each other if attacked in new partnership deal


Hardly a mention of the weaknesses of Kim and Putin (and Kim in particular) and especially the potential for internal instability. Everything is "be afraid, be very afraid." Everyone is supporting Kim Jogn Un's political warfare strategy.



Putin says Russia and North Korea have vowed to aid each other if attacked in new partnership deal

BY  KIM TONG-HYUNG

Updated 5:48 AM EDT, June 19, 2024

AP · June 19, 2024

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a partnership that includes a vow of mutual aid if either country is attacked, during a Pyongyang summit on Wednesday that came as both face escalating standoffs with the west.

Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years comes amid growing concerns over an arms arrangement in which the country 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.

It was not clear what kind of assistance the deal, described as a “comprehensive strategic partnership” would call for.

Speaking after a signing ceremony, Kim called the deal the “strongest ever treaty” signed between the countries and brings their relations to the level of an alliance, and would facilitate cooperation in various areas including politics, economy, culture and military.

Putin said that security and international issues took up a large part of the talks with Kim, according to Russian state media. He was also quoted to say that Russia would not rule out developing military-technical cooperation with North Korea under the deal.

Kim was quoted as saying that the agreement was of a peaceful and defensive nature. “I have no doubt it will become a driving force accelerating the creation of a new multipolar world,” he was quoted to say.


Russia and North Korea also signed agreements on cooperation in the fields of healthcare, medical education, and science, Russian state media reported, citing the Kremlin’s website.

Putin was met upon his nighttime arrival by Kim, who shook his hands, hugged him twice and rode with him from the airport in a limousine in a huge motorcade that rolled through the capital’s brightly illuminated streets, where buildings were decorated with giant Russian flags and portraits of Putin.

After spending the rest of the night at a state guest house, Putin attended a lavish welcoming ceremony at the city’s main square, where he and Kim saluted an honor guard and walked across a red carpet. Kim then introduced key members of his leadership including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui; top aide and ruling party secretary Jo Yong Won; and the leader’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong.

The square was filled with what appeared to be tens of thousands of spectators, including children holding balloons and people wearing coordinated t-shirts in the red, white and blue of the Russian and North Korean flags. Huge crowds lined up on the streets to greet Putin’s motorcade, chanting “Welcome Putin” and waving flowers and North Korean and Russian flags.

As the talks began, Putin thanked Kim for North Korea’s support for his war in Ukraine, part of what he said was a “fight against the imperialist hegemonistic policies of the U.S. and its satellites against the Russian Federation.”

He said the two planned to sign a “new fundamental document (that) will form the basis of our ties for the long term,” hailing ties that he traced back to the Soviet army fighting the Japanese military on the Korean Peninsula in the closing moments of World War II, and Moscow’s support for Pyongyang during the Korean War.

Kim said Moscow and Pyongyang’s “fiery friendship” is now even closer than during Soviet times, and promised “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity.”

Kim has used similar language in the past, consistently saying North Korea supports what he describes as a just action to protect Russia’s interests and blaming the crisis on the U.S.-led West’s “hegemonic policy.” It wasn’t immediately clear what that support might look like.

North Korea is under heavy U.N. Security Council sanctions over its weapons program, while Russia also faces sanctions by the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine.

U.S. and South Korean officials accuse the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment for use in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow deny accusations about North Korean weapons transfers, which would violate multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions that Russia previously endorsed.

Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim’s continuing efforts to advance his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose fresh U.N. sanctions on the North over its weapons tests.

In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it buys weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Pyongyang that the two leaders exchanged gifts after the talks. Putin presented Kim with a Russian-made Aurus limo and other gifts, including a tea set and a naval officer’s dagger. Ushakov said that Kim’s presents to Putin included artworks depicting the Russian leader.

Russia media said earlier that Kim will host a reception, and Putin is expected to leave Wednesday evening for Vietnam.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin’s visit to North Korea illustrates how Russia tries, “in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine.”

The North may also seek to increase labor exports to Russia and other illicit activities to gain foreign currency in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions, according to a recent report by the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s main spy agency. There will likely be talks about expanding cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and mining and further promoting Russian tourism to North Korea, the institute said.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the United States, 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.

AP · June 19, 2024



6. Putin gets lavish welcome in North Korea



Putin gets lavish welcome in North Korea

By Josh Smith and Ju-min Park

June 19, 20244:59 AM EDTUpdated an hour ago

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/putin-kim-agree-develop-strategic-fortress-relations-kcna-says-2024-06-18/




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SummaryCompanies

  • Russian leader makes first visit to North Korea in 24 yearsPutin, Kim sign pact for 'comprehensive strategic partnership'North Korea pledges 'unconditional support' for Russia over Ukraine warVisit signals shift in Moscow-Pyongyang relations amid sanctionsWest fears Russia could aid North's nuclear, missile programmes

SEOUL, June 19 (Reuters) - Cheering crowds and lavish ceremonies greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday, where he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement upgrading their countries' ties to a "comprehensive strategic partnership".

Kim expressed "unconditional support" for "all of Russia's policies", including "a full support and firm alliance" for Putin's war with Ukraine at a summit with the Russian leader who was making his first visit to the North in 24 years.

Putin's visit, which likely to reshape decades of Russia-North Korea relations at a time when both face international isolation is being watched closely by Seoul and Washington, which have expressed concern about their growing military ties.

The reaction from China, the North's main political and economic benefactor and an increasingly important ally for Moscow, has been muted.

An honour guard including mounted soldiers, and a large crowd of civilians gathered at the Kim Il Sung Square by the Taedong River running through the capital in a grand welcome ceremony for Putin. The scene included children holding balloons and giant portraits of the two leaders with national flags adorning the square's main building.

Kim and Putin then rode to the Kumsusan Palace for summit talks.

"We highly appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policy, including in the Ukrainian direction," Russian state news agency RIA quoted Putin as saying at the start of the talks.

Putin said Moscow was fighting the hegemonic, imperialist policy of the United States and its allies, Russian media reported.

Kim said North Korea-Russia relations were entering a period of "new high prosperity".


'UNCONDITIONAL AND UNWAVERING SUPPORT'

Following a summit with top aides then a one-on-one talks that lasted two hours, Putin and Kim signed a comprehensive strategic partnership pact, Russian media reported. Putin's foreign policy aide has said the pact would be the basis for a broader cooperation between the two countries.

Earlier, Kim said the increasingly complicated security environment around the world called for a stronger strategic dialogue with Russia.

"And I want to reaffirm that we will unconditionally and unwaveringly support all of Russia's policies," Kim told Putin.

North Korea "expresses full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out a special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests, as well as territorial integrity", he said.














Item 1 of 7 Russian President Vladimir Putin is welcomed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un upon his arrival at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this image released by the Korean Central News Agency June 19, 2024. KCNA via REUTERS

[1/7]Russian President Vladimir Putin is welcomed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un upon his arrival at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this image released by the Korean Central News Agency June 19, 2024. KCNA via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab


Russia was hit with U.S.-led Western sanctions after Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022 in what Moscow called a "special military operation".

Putin arrived at Pyongyang's airport earlier in the day. After Kim welcomed him with an embrace, the two shared "pent-up inmost thoughts" on the ride to the state guest house, North Korean state media said.

The countries' partnership was an "engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world" and Putin's visit demonstrated the invincibility and durability of their friendship and unity, North Korea's state news agency KCNA said.

Russia has used its warming ties with North Korea to needle Washington, while heavily sanctioned North Korea has won political backing and promises of economic support and trade from Moscow.

The United States and its allies say they fear Russia could provide aid for North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes, which are banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions, and have accused Pyongyang of providing ballistic missiles and artillery shells that Russia has used in its war in Ukraine.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.

'ALTERNATE TRADE MECHANISM'

After Putin's arrival in Pyongyang was delayed by hours, he emerged from his plane at a pre-dawn hour and was greeted by Kim on the red carpet alone, without the grand ceremony the North put on for Chinese President Xi Jinping on his 2019 visit.

The pair then rode in Putin's Russian-made Aurus limousine to the Kumsusan State Guest House.

State media photos showed streets of Pyongyang lined with portraits of Putin and the facade of the unfinished and vacant 101-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel brightly lit with a giant message "Welcome Putin".

Wednesday's agenda includes a gala concert, state reception, honour guards, document signings and a statement to the media.

In a signal that Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, is reassessing its approach to North Korea, Putin praised Pyongyang ahead of his arrival for resisting what he said was U.S. economic pressure, blackmail and threats.

In an article for North Korea's official ruling party newspaper, he promised to "develop alternative trade and mutual settlement mechanisms not controlled by the West" and "build an equal and indivisible security architecture in Eurasia".

Putin's article implied that there was an opportunity for North Korea’s economic growth within an anti-West economic bloc led by Russia, a message likely to appeal to Kim Jong Un, wrote Rachel Minyoung Lee, an analyst with the 38 North programme in Washington.

Get the latest news and expert analysis about the state of the global economy with Reuters Econ World. Sign up here.

Reporting by Ju-min Park, Josh Smith, Jack Kim in Seoul, Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Stephen Coates, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Gerry Doyle and Alex Richardson


7. Putin signs partnership pact with Kim as Pyongyang welcomes Russian leader with fanfare


At this link is my small contribution to CNN's Situation Report last evening. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tv/2024/06/19/exp-tsr-todd-putin-arrives-north-korea-kim.cnn.html


Now we need to see the text of the new agreement.



Putin signs partnership pact with Kim as Pyongyang welcomes Russian leader with fanfare | CNN

CNN · by Simone McCarthy, Manveena Suri, Lucas Lilieholm · June 19, 2024


See moment Putin is greeted by Kim Jong Un in North Korea

01:01 - Source: CNN

CNN —

Vladimir Putin agreed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un on Wednesday, after a rare visit by the Russian president drew fanfare, flag-waving and celebration in the reclusive state’s capital Pyongyang.

Thousands of North Koreans chanting “welcome Putin” lined the city’s wide boulevards brandishing Russian and North Korean flags and bouquets of flowers, as Putin kicked off his first visit to North Korea in 24 years.

The pair then signed the new strategic partnership to replace previous deals signed in 1961, 2000 and 2001, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Putin was met with exuberant celebrations at a welcome ceremony with his counterpart at Kim Il Sung Square in the heart of the North Korean capital, where mounted soldiers, military personnel and children holding balloons cheered against the backdrop of large portraits of the each leader.

The two autocrats presented their respective officials and stood together as the Russian national anthem played before riding off standing shoulder to shoulder in an open-top limousine as they smiled and waved to the crowds.

Later, Putin gave Kim an Aurus car when the two leaders exchanged gifts, according to Russian state media – the second time Putin has given Kim this car model. According to Putin’s Aide Yuri Ushakov, the Russian leader also presented Kim with a tea set. Ushakov did not specify what Putin received, but said they were “also good gifts.”

Putin landed in North Korea in the early hours of Wednesday local time, exactly 24 years to the day he was last in Pyongyang, for a visit heralding the countries’ deepening alignment in the face of shared animosity toward the West and international concerns over their growing military cooperation.

Multiple governments have accused Pyongyang of supplying arms to Moscow for its grinding war in Ukraine, a charge both countries have denied, despite significant evidence of such transfers.

In remarks ahead of talks between the two, Kim voiced his “full support and solidarity with the struggles of the Russian government, military and the people,” pointing specifically to Moscow’s war in Ukraine “to protect its own sovereignty, safety and territorial stability.”

“Situations continue to be complicated and ever-changing, but I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that we will continue to strengthen and closely engage in strategic communication with the (Russian) leadership,” Kim added.

Putin hailed the countries’ ties as based on “equality and mutual respect,” and said an expected new bilateral agreement would “form the basis of relations between the two states for many years to come,” according to Russian state agency Tass. He also added that he hoped Kim would visit Moscow for their next meeting.

The burgeoning relationship has sparked concern in both Seoul and Washington, not only over North Korea’s arms transfers to Russia, but also the prospect of Moscow transferring its superior military technology to aid Pyongyang’s’s heavily sanctioned weapons program.


North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin exit a welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang on June 19.

Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/AFP/Sputnik/Getty Images


Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un attend a welcoming ceremony on June 19, 2024 in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Stringer/Getty Images


Russia's President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attend an official welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea June 19, 2024.

Vladimir Smirnov/Sputnik/Pool/Reuters

‘Unwavering support’

Kim, the third generation leader of a dynasty that has ruled North Korea with an iron fist, beamed visibly as he greeted Putin at the airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning, video footage of the Russian leader’s arrival showed.

The landmark visit marks a significant boost for Kim, who remains isolated on the world stage due to his heavily sanctioned missile and nuclear weapons program and has not hosted another world leader in his capital since the pandemic.

It comes as tensions remain elevated on the Korean Peninsula, where Kim in recent months has ramped up bellicose language and scrapped a longstanding policy of seeking peaceful reunification with South Korea amid alarm in Pyongyang over tightening coordination between the United States, South Korea and Japan.

North Korea state media appeared to play heavily into the close rapport between Kim and Putin, describing them as “exchanging their pent-up innermost thoughts and opened their minds to more surely develop (North Korea-Russia) relations,” as rode together from the airport to the Kumsusan State Guest House where Putin is staying.


Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un upon his arrival in Pyongyang, North Korea June 19, 2024. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.

Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/Reuters

Related article Putin may need arms from North Korea’s Kim, but what is he willing to give in return?

Putin’s trip follows a Kim’s landmark visit to Russia last year, where the two leaders were widely seen as opening this new chapter in their relations predicated on Putin’s need for North Korean arms for its on-going offensive.

Russia has received more than 10,000 shipping containers – the equivalent of 260,000 metric tons of munitions or munitions-related material – from North Korea since September, according to a US statement in February. Russian forces have also launched at least 10 North Korea-made missiles on Ukraine since September, a US official also said in March.

The Russian leader is widely seen as looking to ensure this continued support, which may be especially urgent as delayed American military aid to Ukraine comes online.

In remarks ahead of his talks with Kim, Putin thanked North Korea for its “consistent and unwavering support” for Russia, including on Ukraine and for its fight against the “hegemonic” and “imperialist” policy of the US – echoing past comments framing the two as standing together against a US-led world order.

Putin also sought to link today’s meeting to Moscow and Pyongyang’s historic ties. The “exploits of previous generations” were a “good basis for the development of relations” between the two nations, he told Kim, according to Russian state media Tass.


Russian President Vladimir Putin, right shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, on his arrival in Pyongyang, Wednesday, July 19, 2000.

ITAR-TASS/AP

A long history

Putin’s made his last visit to Pyongyang in 2000 for a meeting with Kim’s late father and predecessor Kim Jong Il. That trip, weeks after Putin’s inauguration for his first term as president, made him the first Russian head of state to visit North Korea.

The elder Kim then visited Moscow in 2001, taking a marathon nine-day rail trip across Russia for the meeting, in what was only his second overseas trip after an earlier visit to China.

The two countries in 2000 also inked a new cooperation agreement. Unlike a 1961 document between the Soviet Union and North Korea, that new iteration did not include reference to mutual military defense assistance, but was seen as an important step in reviving a fraught and closely linked relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang.

The two neighbors have deep ties on the Korean Peninsula. Kim’s grandfather Kim Il Sung rose to power in the late 1940s as part of Soviet efforts to install a communist-controlled government in the north to rival a US-backed government in the south following the defeat of the Japanese imperial army during World War II.

But tightly integrated relations frayed and transformed in the intervening decades, as the Soviet Union collapsed and the new state of Russia established diplomatic relations with Seoul and supported multiple United Nations sanctions on North Korea’s weapons program.

The latest raft of diplomacy comes as shared frustrations with the West have driven the two countries closer – a trend observers say has now been accelerated by the war in Ukraine and has seen North Korea gain a powerful friend in the UN Security Council.

In March, Moscow vetoed a UN resolution to renew independent monitoring of North Korea’s violations of Security Council sanctions – raising concerns about the burgeoning relationship weakened controls on Kim’s illegal weapons program.

Their expected new agreement this week will supplant earlier treaties and additional declarations signed in 2000 and 2001, the Kremlin said earlier this week.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Isaac Yee and Jadyn Sham contributed to this report.

CNN · by Simone McCarthy, Manveena Suri, Lucas Lilieholm · June 19, 2024



8. Putin touches down in Pyongyang, says 'heroic people' of North Korea will 'confront' West with Russia


Be afraid. Be very afraid. Let's all support Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy.



Putin touches down in Pyongyang, says 'heroic people' of North Korea will 'confront' West with Russia

Putin is visiting North Korea for the first time in 24 years

By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi , Greg Wehner Fox News

Published June 18, 2024 2:47pm EDT

foxnews.com · by Timothy H.J. Nerozzi , Greg Wehner Fox News

Video

Putin to meet with Kim Jong Un in first North Korea trip since 2000

'Putin's Playbook' author Rebekah Koffler joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss why Putin is traveling to North Korea for the first time in 24 years and her take on NATO taking nuclear weapons out of storage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin touched down in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Tuesday, beginning a historic visit to the hermit kingdom expected to further forge a political coalition between the two former Soviet-governed states.

Putin's visit to the country is the first in more than two decades.

"Pyongyang has always been our committed and like-minded supporter, ready to confront the ambition of the collective West to prevent the emergence of a multipolar world order based on justice, mutual respect for sovereignty and consideration of each other’s interests," Putin wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday in North Korean state newspapers.

DOZENS OF NORTH KOREAN SOLDIERS REPEATEDLY BREACH FORBIDDEN ZONE WITH SOUTH KOREA AHEAD OF PUTIN VISIT


Russian President Vladimir Putin briefly stops in the Russian city of Yakutsk during his journey to North Korea. (Sergei Karpukhin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

In the op-ed, Putin emphasized the fact that North Korean history and geopolitics are inexorably linked to Russia and the regional communist bloc that formed in the 20th century.

"Russia has supported the DPRK and its heroic people in the struggle to defend their rights to choose the road of independence, originality and development by themselves in the confrontation with the cunning, dangerous and aggressive enemy yesterday and tomorrow, too, and will invariably support them in the future, too."

Following the division of Korea due to Imperial Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, the area above the 38th parallel was directly governed by the Soviet Union.

US CONDUCTS FIRST PRECISION BOMBING DRILL WITH SOUTH KOREA IN 7 YEARS AS TENSIONS WITH NORTH KOREA RISE


North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang, Jan. 15, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was founded in 1948 with direct influence from Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

While the Russian government has moved beyond the ideology of the Soviet-era, figures such as Stalin remain in use as cultural symbols of pride. Putin has repeatedly championed the international bonds forged among Russia, China, North Korea and other nations formed around communism.

"In his op-ed, Putin made the case for […] Russia and North Korea to join forces in ‘opposing’ the 'collective West,'" former U.S. Defense intel officer and strategic military analyst Rebekah Koffler told Fox News Digital.

In the piece, Putin accused the U.S. of "seeking to impose on the world […] a global neo-colonial dictatorship based on double standards."

HERE'S WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PUTIN'S 'BIG AGENDA' TRIP TO NORTH KOREA


A billboard featuring Russia's President Vladimir Putin is seen on a building in Pyongyang, North Korea. Putin arrived for a two-day visit on Tuesday. (Contributor/Getty Images)

"Putin will use these U.S. foes to supplement Russia’s weapons arsenal and to help unbalance Washington, in order to slow down and disrupt its decision-making, especially during a crisis," Koffler told Fox News Digital.

Anthony Ruggiero of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Fox News Digital that the trip bolsters the credibility of international reports that "Kim Jong Un plays a pivotal role in Russia's war in Ukraine."

"The Biden administration should increase implementation of existing U.S. sanctions on North Korea, including targeting its revenue generation and sanctions evaders," Ruggiero told Fox News Digital.

He added, "Kim is comfortable with the current situation, which allows him to help Putin and continue Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development. The Biden administration should increase pressure on Pyongyang and its enablers in Russia and China."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP


President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during a past meeting outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, Russia. (Vladimir Smirnov/Sputnik Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday that the Department of Defense is aware of Putin's visit to Pyongyang and Hanoi, adding the cooperation is concerning, especially to anyone interested in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

"You’re well aware of DPRK providing ammunition and weapons to Russia, that’s been able to help them perpetuate their illegal and unprovoked war against the Ukrainian people," Ryder said. "So, it’s something that we’re going to keep an eye on. I would say, though, taking a step back, our focus when it comes to the Indo-Pacific region and the Korean Peninsula is working with allies and partners to promote peace, stability and security in the region."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been enthusiastic about building associations with Russia and China in order to build international legitimacy despite his country's dismal human rights record.

Putin last visited North Korea in 2000, when the hereditary dictatorship was under the control of Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Kim family — sometimes referred to as the Mount Paektu bloodline — is the hereditary dictatorship of the country founded by communist revolutionary Kim Il Sung.

North Korea operates under the state ideology of Juche, a quasi-communist worldview founded on a cult of personality and enthusiastic nationalism.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com

foxnews.com · by Timothy H.J. Nerozzi , Greg Wehner Fox News


9.  Historic Meeting to Be Specially Recorded in Great Heyday of DPRK-Russia Friendship President of Russian Federation Arrives in Pyongyang


The KCNA report on the visit. No text of the agreement yet.



Historic Meeting to Be Specially Recorded in Great Heyday of DPRK-Russia Friendship President of Russian Federation Arrives in Pyongyang to Pay State Visit to DPRK Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Warmly Receives President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1718748518-628025217/historic-meeting-to-be-specially-recorded-in-great-heyday-of-dprk-russia-friendship-president-of-russian-federation-arrives-in-pyongyang-to-pay-state-visit-to-dprk-respected-comrade-kim-jong-un-warmly/


Date: 19/06/2024 | Source: KCNA.kp (En) | Read original version at source

Pyongyang, June 19 (KCNA) -- At a crucial time when the friendly relations between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation have emerged as a strong strategic fortress for preserving international justice, peace and security and an engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world, another meeting of the top leaders of the two countries took place in Pyongyang, amply demonstrating once again the invincibility and durability of the DPRK-Russia friendship and unity.


Pyongyang International Airport was decked in a festive attire to warmly welcome as the highest state guest President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of the Russian Federation who will pay a state visit to the DPRK at the invitation of Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK.


The national flags of the DPRK and the Russian Federation were fluttering at the top of flagstaffs.


Seen at the airport were Alexandr Matsegora, Russian ambassador to the DPRK, and his embassy members.


The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un came to the airport to greet Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.


A private plane of the president of the Russian Federation landed on Pyongyang International Airport.


Kim Jong Un met with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in an exciting atmosphere.


Kim Jong Un shook hands with Putin and embraced him warmly, expressing his joy and gladness to meet him again in Pyongyang 270-odd days after the meeting at the Vostochny Spaceport in September 2023.


Being pleased that his Pyongyang visit was realized, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin expressed deep thanks to Kim Jong Un for coming to the airport to greet him warmly.


Putin was presented with a bouquet by a woman worker.


Among his entourage were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Mantrov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Nobak, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration and concurrently President's Press Secretary Dmitri Peskov, Aide to the President of Russia for Foreign Policy Yuri Ushakov, Minister of Defense Andrei Beloussov, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology and concurrently Chairman of the Russian Side of the Russia-DPRK Inter-Governmental Committee for Cooperation in Trade, Economy, Science and Technology Alexandr Kozlov , Minister of Health Mikhail Murashuko and Minister of Transport Roman Starovoyt.


Kim Jong Un took Putin's private car to guide him to his lodging quarters.


Passing through charmingly lit streets of Pyongyang at night, the top leaders exchanged their pent-up inmost thoughts and opened their minds to more surely develop the DPRK-Russia relations in conformity with the common desire and will of the peoples of the two countries with the meeting as a momentum.


They arrived at the lodging quarters Kumsusan State Guest House.


Kim Jong Un personally guided Putin, having a friendly chat with him.


Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin's visit to the DPRK at a remarkable time, when the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between the DPRK and Russia have surely entered a course of new comprehensive development, is of great importance in reliably promoting the strategic and future-oriented development of the DPRK-Russia relations consolidated in the trials of history generation after generation and century after century and powerfully propelling the cause of building a powerful country, a desire common to the peoples of the two countries. -0-


www.kcna.kp (Juche113.6.19.)




10. Kim declares N. Korea's relations with Russia upgraded to alliance



Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Kim and Putni envy the ROK/US alliance.



(4th LD) Kim declares N. Korea's relations with Russia upgraded to alliance | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · June 19, 2024

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with results)

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Wednesday that relations between the North and Russia have been upgraded to the level of alliance, as he announced the results of summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kim made the remark during a joint news conference after signing a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that, according to Russian news reports, commits each other to provide mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of them.

"Relations between our two nations rose to a new high of alliance," Kim said. "It is greatly satisfying to conclude a great treaty that befits a changed international situation and the strategic nature of new DPRK-Russia relations."

Putin said Russia does not rule out military-technical cooperation with North Korea, and that the U.N. sanctions regime against North Korea should be revised, according to Russian news reports.

The two leaders met again nine months after they held a summit in Russia's Far East last September, as Russia, under international sanctions over its war with Ukraine, has been bolstering military and other cooperation with North Korea.


This photo, released by Russia's TASS news agency, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un posing at the Kumsusan State Guest House at their summit on June 19, 2024. (Yonhap)

elly@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · June 19, 2024



11. Accountability at Last? Exploring Prospects of Universal Jurisdiction on the Korean Peninsula


Conclusion:


Despite these risks and challenges, universal jurisdiction should be seriously explored as a strategy for addressing human rights abuses in North Korea. In the process of pursuing transnational justice, universal jurisdiction should be seen as a means to an end, not as an end in itself. Fulfilling victim communities’ desire to bring perpetrators to justice is only a “symbolic first stage in addressing more restorative and community-centered considerations.”[40] In exploring the option of universal jurisdiction, scholars must keep in mind that “the agency of abuse survivors in planning for future mechanisms of redress” should not be overlooked or set aside.[41] It is imperative to not lose sight of the broader goal of transitional justice.



Accountability at Last? Exploring Prospects of Universal Jurisdiction on the Korean Peninsula

https://www.nkhiddengulag.org/blog/accountability-at-last-exploring-prospects-of-universal-jurisdiction-on-the-korean-peninsula?utm


By Valerie Xu, HRNK Research Intern[1]

Edited by Raymond Ha, HRNK Director of Operations & Research


In 2014, the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the human rights situation in North Korea concluded that “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations”[2] have been, and are being, committed by the DPRK, its institutions, and officials. Moreover, it stated that many of these violations constitute crimes against humanity, including: “extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.”[3] Although it has been ten years since, serious human rights abuses continue to be committed in North Korea.


There have been continued attempts to address the human rights situation in North Korea, yet the result leaves much to be desired. While some point to political leaders for turning a blind eye to North Korea’s human rights record in the hopes of improving relations with Pyongyang, others point to the lack of civil society in North Korea as a factor contributing to the difficulty in institutionalizing human rights reforms. Given the absence of civil society and rights consciousness, it is challenging to diffuse human rights within North Korea.[4] Furthermore, the nature of North Korea’s judicial institutions makes it hard to seek accountability through domestic laws and regulations.[5] Even the COI acknowledged that “The perpetrators enjoy impunity. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is unwilling to implement its international obligation to prosecute and bring the perpetrators to justice, because those perpetrators act in accordance with State policy.”[6]


When the state ignores or directly perpetuates systematic human rights abuses, external interventions can be rendered fruitless. Existing forums and institutions face not only procedural constraints, but also resistance from both North Korea itself and some other countries. The lack of progress is frustrating, but have we truly exhausted all means? What other venues are available to hold North Korea responsible for its human rights violations? In answering these questions, this piece explores the application of universal jurisdiction to address human rights violations that have occurred in North Korea.



Past Efforts


United Nations System


Addressing North Korean human rights issues at the UN has been helpful in maintaining diplomatic momentum and serving as a solidary and concrete statement of concern towards the DPRK by UN member states. But due to the non-binding nature of resolutions passed at the UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), this approach also has its limits. Some member states are opposed to passing UNHRC resolutions on North Korea because “country-specific content had no place at the UNHRC.”[7] Meanwhile, addressing North Korean human rights violations at the UN Security Council (UNSC) — where resolutions are indeed binding — has also been criticized by some member states which argue that “human rights issues are not under the purview of the UN Security Council to begin with.”[8] Constructive engagement with North Korea has been further complicated as North Korea has continued its missile and nuclear tests in direct violation of UNSC resolutions.[9]


In its recommendations, the COI called for “a Security Council referral of the situation to the International Criminal Court or the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal by the United Nations.”[10] However, North Korea is not a signatory of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which means that a UNSC resolution is “the only remaining option to refer the case of human rights violations in the DPRK.”[11] Furthermore, permanent members in the UNSC, namely China and Russia, are likely to veto any UNSC resolutions that attempt to do so. Even if the case is referred to the International Criminal Court, only crimes committed after July 1, 2002 — when the Rome Statute went into effect — can be addressed.[12]

 

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)


The concept of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was developed in the 1990s after the world witnessed mass atrocities unfold in places such as Somalia and Rwanda.[13] The UN invoked the R2P doctrine to intervene in Libya in 2011, which was the first time that use of force was authorized “for civilian protection purposes against the wishes of a host state.”[14] The COI specifically called on the international community to “accept its responsibility to protect the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from crimes against humanity, because the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has manifestly failed to do so.”[15]


However, invoking R2P in the North Korean context faces many difficulties. First, applying the R2P for chronic cases of human rights abuses may be a stretch, as it has only been used in acute situations in the past.[16] Second, using military force against a nuclear-armed North Korea is unthinkable, as “invocation of R2P by the Security Council could lead to the use of weapons of mass destruction or the launching of missiles.”[17] Lastly, due to controversial results of past R2P applications, including the Libyan case, gathering diplomatic support for this option would be difficult. Moscow or Beijing could easily veto any such resolutions on North Korea at the UNSC.

 

Bilateral Sanctions


Bilateral human rights sanctions on North Korean individuals and entities have also been attempted. Pursuant to Executive Order 13722 signed under the Obama administration, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated individuals and entities for having “engaged in, facilitated, or been responsible for an abuse or violation of human rights by the Government of North Korea or the Workers’ Party of Korea or any person acting for or on behalf of either such entity.”[18] The European Union also imposed sanctions in 2021 under its Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime on individuals and entities deemed to be involved in human rights abuses in North Korea.[19] North Korea also faces other types of sanctions in addition to those that are imposed on human rights grounds. There are questions, however, about the effectiveness of sanctions on deterring human rights abuses.

 

Engagement and Exchanges


Alternatively, some scholars note that even though the North Korean regime is indeed the main perpetrator of human rights abuses within its borders, the regime is also the only actor that can significantly improve the situation. In other words, any concrete improvements must come from the inside.[20] As such, they argue that non-confrontational and unconditional approaches, such as educational exchanges and technology cooperation, should be considered. These attempts have been made in the past, but they have not led to sustained improvements. Progressive South Korean governments, in particular, have been criticized for their attempts to engage North Korea at the cost of neglecting human rights issues. For example, the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) was a flagship inter-Korean economic collaboration program pursued by progressive presidents during the Sunshine Policy era. However, reports by Human Rights Watch have found that labor practices concerning North Korean workers at the KIC were not up to international standards — standards which South Korea has pledged to as an OECD member, yet were set aside to maintain good relations with their North Korean counterparts.[21] Although these progressive administrations and their policies did achieve certain progress, such as summit meetings and reunions for separated families, these gains were ultimately short-lived and did not yield concrete changes to North Korea’s domestic practices.



Concept of Universal Jurisdiction


The UNHRC has recommended universal jurisdiction in explicitly stating: “Another option to ensure criminal accountability in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would be for Member States to pursue investigations and prosecutions based on principles of extraterritorial and/or universal jurisdiction in legal proceedings observing fair trail and due process guarantees.”[22] Furthermore, in her 2024 report, UN Special Rapporteur Elizabeth Salmón recommended that “Prosecutions outside the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea could, if necessary, be based on principles of extraterritorial and/or universal jurisdiction.”[23] The remainder of this article will assess the prospects for applying universal jurisdiction to human rights violations in North Korea within the framework of international law.


Definitions of universal jurisdiction are relatively homogenous in their emphasis on both the nature of the crimes in question and the agency assigned to states. The International Justice Resource Center defines universal jurisdiction as “the idea that a national court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes against international law — such as crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and torture — based on the principle that such crimes harm the international community or international order itself, which individual States may act to protect.”[24] Under this definition, the bar for state action is not explicit. Human Rights Watch subscribes that universal jurisdiction “is the ability of the domestic judicial systems of a state to investigate and prosecute certain crimes, even if they were not committed on its territory, by one of its nationals, or against one of its nationals.”[25] This definition explicitly refers to the concept of nationality, which might give rise to complications in the case of the two Koreas, as discussed below.


This piece embraces a more general understanding of universal jurisdiction by focusing on how serious crimes under international law can be prosecuted outside of a nation’s territory, while being mindful of potential caveats that may arise.



Theory and Application of Universal Jurisdiction


The legal concept of jurisdiction is three-fold: the power to prescribe, adjudicate, and enforce. Under the post-Westphalian state-centric system, such powers are reserved to states in forms of sovereignty.[26] To put simply, “universal jurisdiction transcends national sovereignty.”[27] It is typically justified on the grounds that “the ‘exceptional gravity’ of the offense ‘affect[s] the fundamental interests of the international community as a whole.’”[28] Caution must be exercised in applying universal jurisdiction. There is a careful balance between respecting a government’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and punishing crimes against humanity when a government fails to do so domestically. As such, universal jurisdiction is still seen as a controversial tool that should be used in a cautious manner.


Past applications of universal jurisdiction include the Spanish prosecution of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the U.S. prosecution of Chuckie Taylor.[29] It has not been used explicitly in South Korea, but there have been several relevant cases. In 1983, South Korea claimed concurrent jurisdiction in prosecuting the hijacking of an airplane that landed on South Korean territory, even though the aircraft was registered in China and the nationality of the hijacker was Chinese. Although the court’s ruling did not explicitly invoke universal jurisdiction, it was suspected to be behind the court’s decision in claiming jurisdiction.[30] In recent years, South Korean courts have found Kim Jong-un to be personally liable for human rights and humanitarian law violations.[31] For example, in 2023, the Seoul Central District Court ordered North Korea and Kim Jong-un to pay 50 million Korean Won each to three former prisoners of war for their forced labor during captivity.[32] Although actually receiving this compensation may be difficult, it nevertheless points to the possibility of invoking universal jurisdiction in future proceedings.


 

Feasibility and Transferability


In theory, applying universal jurisdiction in South Korea can be grounded in its Act on Punishment of Crimes Under Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Adopted in 2007, the purpose of the Act is to “punish crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and set the procedures for cooperation between the Republic of Korea and the International Criminal Court pursuant to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”[33]


Article 3 defines the scope of applying this Act:

  • (1) This Act shall apply to any Korean national or foreigner who commits a crime provided for in this Act within the territory of the Republic of Korea.
  • (2) This Act shall apply to any Korean national who commits a crime provided for in this Act outside the territory of the Republic of Korea.
  • (3) This Act shall apply to any foreigner who commits a crime provided for in this Act on board a vessel or aircraft owned by Republic of Korea, outside the territory of the Republic of Korea.
  • (4) This Act shall apply to any foreigner who commits a crime provided for in this Act against the Republic of Korea or its people outside the territory of the Republic of Korea.
  • (5) This Act shall apply to any foreigner who commits the crime of genocide, etc. outside the territory of the Republic of Korea and stays in the territory of the Republic of Korea.


Article 2 also stipulates that “The term ‘crime of genocide, etc.’ means any crimes listed in Articles 8 through 14,” which includes crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes against persons, war crimes against property and rights, war crimes against humanitarian activities, war crimes using forbidden methods, and war crimes using forbidden weapons.[34] Therefore, South Korean courts can invoke this act to prosecute crimes against humanity in line with principles of universal jurisdiction, as long as the perpetrator can be located within South Korea’s borders.


On this note, given the post-Korean War partition of the Peninsula, there is also an interesting discussion as to what constitutes national sovereignty and territorial integrity for North and South Korea. South Korea’s constitution states that “[t]he territory of the Republic of Korea shall consist of the Korean peninsula and its adjacent islands.”[35] In reality, however, North Korea and South Korea each occupy half of the Peninsula, and they are equally recognized as member states of the UN. Regardless, South Korea’s constitution influences how laws such as the Act on Punishment of Crimes Under Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court may be interpreted, especially with regard to the physical location of where crimes were committed and where perpetrators currently reside. Even so, cases can still arise from North Korean escapees who resettle in South Korea.



Risks and Complications


One major concern raised by legal experts is that if South Korean courts indeed invoke the universal jurisdiction approach, “it would require them implicitly to recognize the de facto existence of a North Korean state, putting it into direct conflict with the provisions in the South Korean Constitution explicitly barring such recognition of North Korean statehood.”[36] South Korea is a staunch friend and ally of the United States. South Korea also has to maintain balance in its relations with China. Since both the United States and China have a keen interest in maintaining stability on the Korean Peninsula, political risks may arise if South Korea unilaterally alters its policies towards North Korea.


Procedurally, criminal prosecutions in South Korea would require the physical presence of the defendant. Otherwise, the court would be unable to enforce any potential remedies that may result from criminal trials.[37] Lastly, as with any legal proceedings, the success of a prosecution would depend on “whether the prosecuting authorities can assemble sufficiently robust evidence to result in a conviction.”[38] This is especially challenging. Even the COI acknowledged the difficulty of gaining on-site access to North Korea or direct input from the government.[39]



Concluding Remarks


Despite these risks and challenges, universal jurisdiction should be seriously explored as a strategy for addressing human rights abuses in North Korea. In the process of pursuing transnational justice, universal jurisdiction should be seen as a means to an end, not as an end in itself. Fulfilling victim communities’ desire to bring perpetrators to justice is only a “symbolic first stage in addressing more restorative and community-centered considerations.”[40] In exploring the option of universal jurisdiction, scholars must keep in mind that “the agency of abuse survivors in planning for future mechanisms of redress” should not be overlooked or set aside.[41] It is imperative to not lose sight of the broader goal of transitional justice.


Valerie Xu is a recent Master’s graduate from a dual-degree program between Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and KDI School of Public Policy and Management. Her passion for sustainable global development and human rights are the motivators behind her academic pursuits and career aspirations.


[1] This article is based on an essay that was originally submitted as an academic assignment at Johns Hopkins University in December 2023. It is published here with the instructor’s permission.

[2] United Nations Human Rights Council. Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, UN Doc, A/HRC/25/63, 2014, para 80.

[3] Ibid., 14.

[4] Patricia Goedde, “Human Rights Diffusion in North Korea: The Impact of Transnational Legal Mobilization,” Asian Journal of Law and Society 5, no. 1 (2018): 177. https://doi.org/10.1017/als.2017.20.

[5] Kyung-ok Do, “Report of the Group of Independent Experts on Accountability for Human Rights Violations in the DPRK: Implications and Future Challenges,” Korea Institute for National Unification, April 5, 2017, 3. https://repo.kinu.or.kr/bitstream/2015.oak/8432/1/0001478608.pdf.

[6] A/HRC/25/63, para 85.

[7] Courtney J. Fung, “Just Not in the Neighbourhood: China’s Views on the Application of the Responsibility to Protect in the DPRK,” The China Quarterly 246 (2021): 573. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741020000648.

[8] Ibid., 577.

[9] Patricia Goedde, “Human Rights Diffusion in North Korea: The Impact of Transnational Legal Mobilization,” Asian Journal of Law and Society 5, no. 1 (2018): 179. https://doi.org/10.1017/als.2017.20.

[10] A/HRC/25/63, para 87.

[11] Do, “Report of the Group of Independent Experts on Accountability for Human Rights Violations in the DPRK: Implications and Future Challenges,” 4.

[12] Ibid., 5.

[13] Rosemary Foot, “The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and Its Evolution: Beijing’s Influence on Norm Creation in Humanitarian Areas,” St Antony’s International Review 6, no. 2 (2011): 49. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26226764.

[14] Andrew Garwood-Gowers, “China and the ‘Responsibility to Protect’: The Implications of the Libyan Intervention,” Asian Journal of International Law 2, no. 2 (2012): 384. https://doi.org/10.1017/S204425131200015X.

[15] A/HRC/25/63, para. 86.

[16] Fung, “Just Not in the Neighbourhood: China’s Views on the Application of the Responsibility to Protect in the DPRK,” 570.

[17] Boris Kondoch, “North Korea,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect, eds. Alex J. Bellamy and Tim Dunne (Oxford University Press, 2016), 830. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198753841.013.44

[18] Exec. Order No. 13722, 81 FR 14943 (March 15, 2016).

[19] Ramon Pacheco Pardo, “Pressure and Principles: The EU’s Human Rights Sanctions on North Korea,” 38 North, March 26, 2021. https://www.38north.org/2021/03/pressure-and-principles-the-eus-human-rights-sanctions-on-north-korea/.

[20] Buhm-Suk Baek, “Partially Right, Partially Wrong: Rethinking the Implementation of International Human Rights Law in Countries with Gross Human Rights Violations,” Pacific Focus, 33 no. 2 (2018): 353. https://doi.org/10.1111/pafo.12122.

[21] “North Korea: Workers’ Rights at the Kaesong Industrial Complex,” Human Rights Watch, October 2006. https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/10/03/north-korea-workers-rights-kaesong-industrial-complex

[22] United Nations Human Rights Council. Promoting accountability in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, UN Doc. A/HRC/52/64, para 17.

[23] A/HRC/55/63, para 23.

[24] “Universal Jurisdiction,” International Justice Resource Center. https://ijrcenter.org/cases-before-national-courts/domestic-exercise-of-universal-jurisdiction/.

[25] “Basic Facts on Universal Jurisdiction,” Human Rights Watch, October 19, 2009. https://www.hrw.org/news/2009/10/19/basic-facts-universal-jurisdiction.

[26] M. Cherif Bassiouni, “Universal Jurisdiction for International Crimes: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Practice,” Virginia Journal of International Law, 42 no. 1 (2001): 89. https://via.library.depaul.edu/lawfacpubs/606.

[27] Ibid., 96.

[28] Ernest A. Young, “Universal Jurisdiction, the Alien Tort Statute, and Transnational Public-Law Litigation After Kiobel,” Duke Law Journal 64 (2015): 1033. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/faculty_scholarship/3244.

[29] “Universal Jurisdiction,” International Justice Resource Center.

[30] “Universal Jurisdiction in the Republic of Korea,” United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/65/ScopeAppUniJuri_StatesComments/RepublicofKorea.pdf.

[31] Daniel Wertz, “Private Litigation against the North Korean Government: Overview and Policy Implications,” NCNK, August 2021. https://www.ncnk.org/resources/briefing-papers/all-briefing-papers/private-litigation-against-north-korean-government.

[32] “Seoul Court Again Orders N. Korea to Pay Compensation to Former POWs,” Yonhap News, May 8, 2023. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230508005900315.

[33] “Act on Punishment of Crimes under Jurisdiction of The International Criminal Court,” Korea Legislation Research Institute & Korea Law Translation Center. https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_service/lawView.do?lang=ENG&hseq=16463.

[34] Ibid.

[35] Stephan Sonnenberg and Patricia Goedde, “Accountability for Human Rights Crimes in North Korea: Jurisdictional Dilemmas in South Korea.” Asian Perspective 47, no. 3 (2023): 522. https://doi.org/10.1353/apr.2023.a905236.

[36] Ibid., 527.

[37] Ibid., 531.

[38] Ibid., 521.

[39] Goedde, “Human Rights Diffusion in North Korea: The Impact of Transnational Legal Mobilization,” 186.

[40] Mark Findlay, “Activating a Victim Constituency in International Criminal Justice,” International Journal of Transitional Justice 3 no. 2 (2009): 193. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijp008.

[41] Sarah A. Son, “Chasing Justice: Victim Engagement with Accountability for Human Rights Abuses in North Korea,” Asian Studies Review 44, no. 4 (2020): 623. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2020.1734536.



12. Hanwha eyes Norway, Sweden for rocket artillery sales



Kim sends Putin artillery ammunition and rockets with about a 50% reliability rate. South Korea sells high tech, sophisticated, and reliable military systems as a part of the Arsenal of Democracy.



Hanwha eyes Norway, Sweden for rocket artillery sales

Defense News · by Rudy Ruitenberg · June 17, 2024

PARIS – Hanwha Aerospace sees opportunities to sell its K239 Chunmoo rocket artillery system to Norway and Sweden, with short delivery time and price giving it an edge over competitors, the company said at the Eurosatory defense show in Paris on Monday.

The South Korean defense firm is displaying its multiple rocket launch system in Europe for the first time in response to interest from several countries in the region in long-range rocket system. Hanwha faces competition from Elbit Systems’ PULS, as well as the GMARS MLRS presented by Rheinmetall and Lockheed Martin on Monday.

Meanwhile, French firms Safran and Thales are developing competing proposals in response to a French demand for a rocket system.

“Norway is one of the major markets we’re looking at, Sweden would maybe follow,” Junheun Lee, a Warsaw-based senior manager for business development at Hanwha, told Defense News. “They would want delivery before 2030, and we can definitely do that.

”Hanwha would be able to delivery each country a battalion-sized batch of 16 to 18 Chunmoo launchers by 2030, according to the company manager. Norway may make a decision by the end of the year or early next year, while Sweden would follow later, as the country hasn’t yet budgeted for buying a rocket artillery system.

The Netherlands, Denmark and Spain have bought the PULS. Germany has also said it plans to order the Israeli system, though Rheinmetall and Lockheed Marketing are targeting the German market with GMARS, an upgraded version of the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS,

Hanwha’s open architecture is another selling point in addition to delivery time and price, with countries able to use their own chassis for the launcher if they so desire, as has been the case with Poland and which might be the case for Nordic buyers, according to Junheun Lee. Poland has signed contracts to buy 288 units of the Homar-K, a Polish version of Hanwha’s MLRS.

Hanwha says its rocket artillery can fire munitions including a 239mm rocket with a range of 80 kilometers and a 280mm rocket that can reach targets 160 km away, as well as a 290mm ballistic missile with a maximum range of 290 km. The company plans to integrate 122mm unguided rockets for Poland.

The Korean company said on Friday it’s considering setting up a “user club” for the system to share experiences and best practices. The company isn’t facing any issues with component supplies, with 95% of the Chunmoo manufactured domestically in South Korea.

About Rudy Ruitenberg

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.



13. Putin's rare visit to North Korea shortened due to his late arrival



Putin demonstrates he is the superior one in the still very transactional relationship.



Putin's rare visit to North Korea shortened due to his late arrival | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · June 19, 2024

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's rare visit to North Korea was shortened to a one-day trip, following his late arrival in Pyongyang early Wednesday morning.

Putin was initially scheduled to arrive late Tuesday for his first visit to the reclusive nation in 24 years, but the Kremlin announced after 2 a.m. Wednesday that he had landed in North Korea's capital, delayed by a prior stop in Yakutsk, a city in eastern Russia.

Before heading to North Korea, Putin met with regional Gov. Aisen Nikolayev and received briefings on various technology and defense-related projects. He also interacted with young professionals and local residents in Russia's Far East.

After completing the engagements, Putin departed for North Korea on his private jet around 9 to 10 p.m. Yakutsk time, which has no time difference from Pyongyang.

Putin is scheduled to attend an official banquet at noon and hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un afterward.

Following the summit, Putin is set to depart for Hanoi, Vietnam, late Wednesday.

Putin has a reputation for arriving late to summit meetings.

In 2014, Putin made German Chancellor Angela Merkel wait 4 hours and 15 minutes, and in 2018, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waited for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

In 2016, he arrived 1 hour and 45 minutes late for a meeting with then President Park Geun-hye. In 2019, during the G20 summit, he was nearly 2 hours late for a meeting with then President Moon Jae-in.

Wednesday's visit came nine months after Kim held a summit with Putin in Russia's Far East in September. At the time, Putin arrived promptly at the summit site.


This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on June 19, 2024, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (R) greeting Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), who arrived in Pyongyang for a state visit. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

khj@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · June 19, 2024



14. Blinken vows to do 'everything' to cut off N.K. support for Russia ahead of Kim-Putin summit


Unfortunately there is not a lot of "everything." More sanctions and sanctions enforcement? Will we use the Proliferation Security Initiative for at sea transportation? What about the overland rail route? Why don't we focus on the weaknesses and the internal challenges to both regimes (and north Korea in particular)? Why don't we effectively employ the information instrument of power?



(3rd LD) Blinken vows to do 'everything' to cut off N.K. support for Russia ahead of Kim-Putin summit | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · June 19, 2024

(ATTN: ADDS photo, Pentagon spokesperson's remarks in paras 18-20)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged Tuesday to do "everything" to cut off North Korea's support for Russia amid the war in Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang this week.

Blinken made the remarks as Putin and Kim are scheduled to hold a summit in the North Korean capital on Wednesday (Korea time) amid growing concerns about security implications of their countries' deepening military cooperation.

"We'll continue to do everything we can to cut off the support that countries, like Iran and North Korea, are providing," the secretary said during a press conference after his meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington.


This photo, taken on April 23, 2024, shows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaking during a press briefing at the State Department in Washington. (Yonhap)

Washington has revealed that the North provided Russia with more than 11,000 containers of munitions and related material and dozens of ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine.

Blinken reiterated that Russia is trying "in desperation" to develop and strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war in Ukraine, while criticizing China's support for Russia's defense industrial base and Iran's provision of drones to Russia.

"We are very much concerned about this because this is what's keeping the war going," the secretary said, accusing China of "fueling the biggest security threat to Europe as a whole since the end of the Cold War."

"The fastest way to end the war is for Putin to be disabused of the notion that he can outlast Ukraine and outlast all of Ukraine's supporters, but also if he knows that the fuel he needs for his war machine won't be there anymore," he added.

Stoltenberg pointed out that Putin's trip to the North "confirms the very close alignment between Russia and authoritarian states," and underscores that security is a "global" issue.

"What happens in Europe matters for Asia. What happens in Asia matters for us. And this is clearly demonstrated in Ukraine, where Iran, North Korea and China are propping up, fueling Russia's war aggression against Ukraine," he said.

"So this idea that we can divide security into regional theaters doesn't work anymore. Everything is intertwined, and therefore we need to address these challenges together."


This photo, released by the Associated Press, shows NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaking to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington on June 17, 2024. (Yonhap)

As Putin arrived in the North, the White House reiterated concerns about military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.

"Deepening cooperation between Russia and the DPRK is a trend that should be of great concern to anyone interested in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, upholding the global nonproliferation regime, abiding by the U.N. Security Council resolutions and supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend for their freedom and their independence against Russia's aggression," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told a press briefing.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"This is something that we have been warning about for some time as the DPRK's provision of weapons to Russia has helped enable Russia's brutal war in Ukraine," she added.


This photo, released by Reuters, shows White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holding a press briefing at the White House in Washington on June 17, 2024. (Yonhap)

Jean-Pierre also called attention to the summit statement that Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping issued last month.

"We noted that the Putin-Xi joint statement called for all sides to reaffirm that political and diplomatic means as the only way to resolve issues on the Korean Peninsula. We hope this is a message that Putin will convey to Kim in their discussion," she said.

"As we have said before, we don't believe any country should give Mr. Putin a platform to promote the war of aggression that we are currently seeing in Ukraine, and Russia, we believe, is blatantly violating the U.N. Charter and working to undermine the international system."

In a separate briefing, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder criticized the North's weapons support for Russia, saying it has been able to help Russia "perpetuate" what he termed an illegal and unprovoked war against Ukrainian people.

"Our focus continues to be on promoting regional security and stability in the region as well as our extended deterrence efforts as it comes to supporting our ROK and Japanese allies," he said, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.


This photo, released by the Associated Press, shows Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder speaking during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington on May 14, 2024. (Yonhap)

Extended deterrence refers to the U.S.' commitment to using the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its allies.

The planned summit between Kim and Putin is being carefully watched by Seoul, Washington and others as it could further accelerate their cooperation in defense and other areas.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, has told Russia's news agency TASS that the summit may produce a treaty on a "comprehensive strategic partnership," a document likely to cement the bilateral partnership at a time of their isolation on the global stage.

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · June 19, 2024




15.  Putin, N. Korea's Kim start summit talks amid concerns over deepening military cooperation


"concerns over deepening military cooperation"


Be afraid.


Exactly what Putin and Kim want in support of their political warfare strategies.



(LEAD) Putin, N. Korea's Kim start summit talks amid concerns over deepening military cooperation | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · June 19, 2024

(ATTN: REWRITES headline, lead; UPDATES with more details throughout)

By Kim Soo-yeon

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un began summit talks in Pyongyang on Wednesday, Russian news media reported, amid concerns about deepening military cooperation.

Putin arrived in North Korea early Wednesday morning in his first trip to the reclusive country in 24 years, as Russia, under international sanctions over its war with Ukraine, has been bolstering military and other cooperation with North Korea.

Putin and Kim started their summit talks at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, attended by both sides' delegations, according to Russia's Sputnik news agency.

Earlier in the day, an official welcoming ceremony was held at Kim Il Sung Square in central Pyongyang, according to Russia's news reports.

At the summit, the two leaders are widely expected to discuss ways to upgrade their bilateral ties to a new level. Russia's TASS news agency reported Tuesday that Putin ordered the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with North Korea.


This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on June 19, 2024, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (R) greeting Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), who arrived in Pyongyang for a state visit. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

It marked Putin's first trip to North Korea since July 2000, when he met with then leader Kim Jong-il, the late father of the current leader. It also came nine months after Kim traveled to Russia's Far East in September last year for a summit with Putin.

Since then, the two nations have been bolstering military ties, with the North being accused of supplying Russia with ammunition for use in Moscow's war in Ukraine in exchange for aid and suspected technological assistance for its space program.

Experts said Putin's trip will likely pave the way for the two countries to deepen military cooperation beyond arms transactions while cementing their solidarity against the United States.

Analysts said Kim and Putin are expected to adopt a joint declaration that calls for both sides to elevate the level of military, security and economic cooperation but saw a low possibility of them clinching a treaty akin to a military alliance.

North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty of friendship and mutual assistance in 1961. The treaty included a provision for so-called automatic military intervention, under which if one side is under an armed attack, the other provides military troops and other aid without hesitation.

North Korea and Russia signed a new treaty of bilateral ties in 2000, but it did not contain such a provision as it centered on cooperation in the economy, science and culture.


This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on June 19, 2024, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) as Putin began his state visit to North Korea for talks with Kim. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Experts said North Korea and Russia are expected to highlight cooperation in the economic sector as any arms deals and military cooperation violate United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions banning Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

In an article published Tuesday by the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, Putin vowed to build alternative systems for trade and settlements with North Korea that will not be controlled by the West and jointly resist "illegal and unilateral restrictions" in an apparent reference to international sanctions.

Experts said Russia is expected to assist North Korea's space development program in exchange for Pyongyang's arms supplies, but it is not likely to transfer sensitive weapons technology to Pyongyang.

In late May, North Korea's attempt to launch a military spy satellite ended in failure as a satellite-carrying rocket exploded right after liftoff. In November last year, North Korea successfully placed a spy satellite into orbit, and it has a plan to launch three more such satellites in 2024.

The two leaders could discuss the issue of North Korea's dispatch of its workers at the summit, experts said. The North has a desperate need to earn foreign currency due to international sanctions, while Russia has been facing a labor shortage amid its war with Ukraine.


This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on June 19, 2024, shows a street in Pyongyang lined with portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who began his state visit to North Korea for talks with leader Kim Jong-un. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · June 19, 2024



16. Romania to buy S. Korean K-9 howitzers for US$920 mln


The arsenal of democracy at work.


The irony here is that during the Cold War the two leaders of north Korea and Romania were very close.



(LEAD) Romania to buy S. Korean K-9 howitzers for US$920 mln | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · June 19, 2024

(ATTN: ADDS photo)

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- Romania has confirmed its plan to buy South Korean K-9 self-propelled howitzers for US$920 million, the defense ministry said Wednesday, in another boost for Seoul's drive to clinch more arms export deals.

Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar announced the decision during talks in Romania with Seoul's defense chief Shin Won-sik, who is on a weeklong trip to Eastern Europe that will also take him to Poland, according to the ministry.

Shin thanked Tilvar for the decision and anticipated the deal -- the biggest in Romania's arms acquisition over the past seven years -- will further activate defense and arms cooperation between the two countries.

"South Korea will become the optimal partner for Romania's push to modernize its military," Shin said, adding he hopes the deal will lead to an array of cooperation, including joint manufacturing, cross training between relevant units and exchange of personnel.


South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik (L) and his Romanian counterpart, Angel Tilvar, shake hands during their meeting in Romania on June 19, 2024, in this photo provided by Shin's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

During their talks, Shin and Tilvar agreed to further improve their cooperation in areas of military education and training, sharing of information and exchanges, defense acquisition as well as science and technology, according to the ministry.

In April, President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis, held a summit in Seoul and agreed to boost cooperation in defense and nuclear energy.

Shin and Tilvar called military cooperation between Russia and North Korea a security threat to Asia and Europe as they concurred on the need for close cooperation and responses by the international community, the ministry said. Their meeting coincided with summit talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang.

Shin is set to leave for a three-day trip to Poland later Wednesday, where he will co-chair a joint ministerial committee meeting on bilateral defense and arms industry cooperation with his Polish counterpart, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, and visit an air base where South Korean FA-50 light combat aircraft have been deployed.

In 2022, Poland signed procurement deals worth 17 trillion won ($12.3 billion) to buy K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, FA-50 light attack aircraft and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers to bolster its defenses in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.


K-9 howitzers fire shells in a drill at a firing range in Cheorwon, about 90 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on April 17, 2024. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

mlee@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · June 19, 2024




17. TikTok star Munya Chawawa takes on North Korea in new documentary – it follows a long tradition of western media poking fun at the Kim family’s regime



And now for something completely different as our Monty Python friends might say.



TikTok star Munya Chawawa takes on North Korea in new documentary – it follows a long tradition of western media poking fun at the Kim family’s regime

theconversation.com · by Sarah A. Son

Munya Chawawa, who is best known for his satirical comedy sketches aimed at educating and entertaining a Gen Z audience, has made a new documentary about Kim Jong-un’s North Korea. How to Survive a Dictator premiered at Sheffield’s DocFest on June 13, and will be broadcast on Channel 4 later this year.

The documentary attempts a fresh take on North Korea. It includes serious interviews with experts, activists and escapees from the country, interspersed with sketches and songs satirising aspects of North Korean political ideology and its leader.

It follows a long tradition of western media poking fun at North Korea, playing to public curiosity around the mysterious, seemingly eccentric, and sometimes bellicose regime of the Kim family.

In one sketch, Chawawa is dressed as Marvel’s Nick Fury. He portrays the North Korean regime as a gangster operation run by “The Revengers”, who are engaged in slavery, money laundering, and narcotics and weapons sales.


Another song parodies Kim as the “Fresh Prince” of North Korea. This is a nod to the fact that he came to the position of supreme leader seemingly out of nowhere as the regime sought to prevent a power vacuum emerging after the health of his father, Kim Jong-il, began to fail.

The use of comedy to portray the North Korean leadership as unhinged, immature and selfish tyrants bent on world domination and destruction is not new. Political comics have in the past depicted a baby Kim with rosy cheeks playing with toy missiles, or sitting on the “naughty chair” in the corner.

These childlike caricatures mock a relatively young leader whose nuclear weapons programme is presented as a self-indulgent vanity project into which he channels vast amounts of the state’s very limited financial resources.

North Korea is not always silent on demeaning depictions of the supreme leader. The 2014 Hollywood film The Interview, which starred Seth Rogan and James Franco, presented a scenario where two American journalists travel to North Korea to assassinate Kim on the premise of conducting an exclusive interview with him.

The darkly comedic “obliteration” of Kim portrayed in the film enraged North Korea. It deemed the film equivalent to an “act of war” and demanded the UN intervene to stop its release. North Korea is then believed to have exercised its disapproval through deploying a massive cyber-attack on Sony Pictures not long afterwards, despite denying direct responsibility.

Why do we laugh?

In Chawawa’s documentary, he visits a popular South Korean TV show where North Korean escapees share about their lives in the North, sometimes using humour to add levity to their experiences.

Referring to his own experience growing up under Robert Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe, Chawawa notes the cognitive dissonance involved in talking about trauma, violence and dictatorship through comedy. He describes how, for those who have experienced such things, joking about them can be a “coping mechanism”.

But what about those of us in the audience who have not lived under the brutality of authoritarian government? Should we be laughing along? The use of “disparagement humour” is a common device observed by social identity theorists in media commentary that seeks to diminish the danger posed by threatening “others” or “outsiders”.

For example, former US president Donald Trump’s favourite insult for the North Korean leader was “little rocket man”. This sought to downplay Kim’s ability to wage an attack on the US and its allies by belittling his nuclear programme.

But disparagement humour can also smooth the effective transmission of messages because it acts as a kind of mental balm. Chawawa noted in his discussion with the audience at DocFest that his use of satire is a device he hopes will reduce the discomfort younger audiences may otherwise feel around difficult, sad, or anxiety-inducing topics.

Psychological warfare

The use of disparagement humour in commentary on North Korea doesn’t function the same way with all audiences. In May, a North Korean political song broadcast by the government went viral globally on TikTok, including in South Korea.

The song, which was called “Friendly Father”, captured attention for its catchy “Abba-coded tune”, according to the many approving comments from Gen Z listeners.

However, the song was banned by the national media regulator in South Korea. This move is not surprising given the caution with which the South Korean government has always handled North Korean state content.

The 1948 National Security Law bans any content from North Korea from being broadcast or consumed in the South due to an aversion to any material that might “praise, incite or propagate” North Korea’s activities. More recently, comedy T-shirts with Kim’s smiling face printed on them were banned from sale in South Korea for this very reason.


North Korean leader Kim Jong un supervising military drills at an undisclosed location in North Korea in April 2024. KCNA / EPA

Some younger South Koreans may feel it is acceptable to laugh at North Korea for the same reasons that western audiences have done so. But many in the South still feel that the threat to national security posed by the North Korean regime is real enough that viewing Kim with levity risks weakening South Korea’s ideological defences.

In the west, the man who leads North Korea will probably remain a target for media mockery, especially as there is a lot that outsiders struggle to understand about him. However, Kim Jong-un is not irrational and has gone to great lengths to ensure the survival of his regime. It would be a mistake not to take him seriously.

theconversation.com · by Sarah A. Son




De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com


De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161


If you do not read anything else in the 2017 National Security Strategy read this on page 14:

"A democracy is only as resilient as its people. An informed and engaged citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations, our society has protected free press, free speech, and free thought. Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data. The American public and private sectors must recognize this and work together to defend our way of life. No external threat can be allowed to shake our shared commitment to our values, undermine our system of government, or divide our Nation."
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