Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has backed his continued grinding war against Ukraine while alarming U.S. friends like South Korea, which is now considering supplying Kyiv with arms that may change the field.
After making military pacts with Pyongyang that brought the two U.S. opponents closer, Putin returned to Russia, raising the possibility of military activity on the Korean Peninsula.
On Wednesday, Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to defend one another in the event of an attack. While it’s still unclear what the visit’s long-term effects may be, it’s likely to encourage Japan and South Korea to strengthen their already strong ties to the United States over the coming year. It furthermore left China on the sidelines, an unexpected place for North Korea’s biggest patron.
Next month, President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and North Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol will probably hold a conference at which the United States is likely to reiterate its commitment to lengthy punishment or the “nuclear awning” it provides for its Eastern friends. There may be a fresh ambiguity surrounding Kim’s ability to impose himself over North Korea if he attempted to employ nuclear weapons.
” If there is a disaster, the U. S. president will have to consider not only about North Korea’s nuclear arms, but about Russia’s nuclear weaponry, so we can envision a situation where U. S. extended punishment is weakened”, said Tetsuo Kotani, professor of international studies at Meikai University. ” We ca n’t assume everything is absolutely fine”.
Kim is accused of sending Putin millions of rounds of ballistic missiles and its allies because of his aggression against Ukraine. Due to the U.S. Congress’s continued suspension of new military aid, the weapons gained popularity as Kyiv’s supplies decreased. The window for a Russian breakthrough is narrowing, however, with Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government now receiving billions of dollars in fresh arms from its U.S. and European allies.
Kim hailed the deal as” the most powerful treaty” signed between the two countries, but Putin was more cautious in his wording. In Vietnam, Putin said,” I would like to emphasize that this agreement is not something new,” adding that the agreement’s language was the same as that of a 1960s agreement.
No one inquired about it or offered it, according to Putin, who downplayed any possibility that North Korea might send troops to Ukraine.
Seoul responded to the agreement by saying it is considering whether to end its ban on sending Ukrainians deadly weapons. Japan may not follow suit, according to Kotani of Meikai University, but the agreement sparked a frenzy of diplomatic activity.
Both countries and the U. S. denounced the deal as well as the arms transfers, which they say violate United Nations Security Council resolutions. Foreign ministers from Japan and South Korea called to share their concerns about the agreement, and both nations announced additional sanctions against Russia. The South Korean government summoned Russia’s ambassador to make a formal protest, while Japan’s Defense Minister reiterated that U. S. nuclear deterrence is indispensable.
Artillery Supplies
With thousands of large-caliber guns pointed at each other, the Koreas have one of the largest artillery forces in the world. North Korean shells, which are interchangeable with Soviet artillery, are among their stockpiles of shells, which Russia has used on the front lines of its conflict. The NATO NATO supplying Ukraine’s standard is currently 155 millimeter caliber shells from South Korea.
According to Yonhap News, South Korea has finished reviewing the procedures that must be followed in order to send weapons to Ukraine, with its 155 mm artillery likely at the top of the list, adding that the stock is thought to be worth more than 3 million shells. After North Korea sent what Seoul believes to be more than 4 million shells to Russia, Seoul may be less concerned about the inventory being drained.
While South Korea’s current policy prohibits sending lethal aid to nations at war, that has n’t stopped its arms makers from selling weapons to Ukraine’s European neighbors. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, exports have increased significantly, primarily to buyers looking to upgrade Soviet-era weapons with advanced weapons from the Asian nation.
According to senior fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center, Rachel Minyoung Lee, the trip may not have altered the region’s power balance despite the growing unease.
” We just saw two internationally dispersed nations formalizing cooperation in a number of areas, many of which have the potential to violate sanctions, such as the space cooperation between North Korea and Russia,” Lee said.
According to Lee, who worked as an analyst for the CIA’s Open Source Enterprise for almost 20 years,” China still looms large, and the U.S. alliances with South Korea and Japan and U.S. South Korea-Japan security cooperation remain intact.” ” North Korea has won itself an extra protection cover against its external threats, namely the U. S., South Korea, and perhaps even China”, she added.
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