North Korea and Russia Forge Deeper Military Ties: A New Era of Alliance?

In June, North Korea and Russia signed a mutual defense treaty equivalent to a military alliance and have since been openly expanding their military cooperation. The high-level exchanges have been publicized since the Pyongyang summit focused on the military sector.

On July 19, the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s official newspaper, reported that “General Secretary Kim Jong Un met with a military delegation led by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Aleksey Krivoruchko on July 18.”

According to the South Korean Ministry of Unification, this is the first high-level military visit from Russia to North Korea since the June North Korea-Russia summit in Pyongyang. Looking back to last September, there has been no publicized military exchange among the 25 high-level exchanges between North Korea and Russia.

On July 8, a military education delegation from the People’s Army, led by Kim Keum Chul, the president of Kim Il Sung Military University, was dispatched to Russia. Although their detailed schedule has not been confirmed, it is clear that there was a mutual exchange between the two sides.

It has been understood that North Korea and Russia have engaged in military exchanges under a non-public principle, but recently, these exchanges seem to have become more open.

According to the aircraft tracking website FlightRadar 24, a Russian military aircraft visited Pyongyang on the 9th and 18th of July following the June North Korea-Russia summit. On both occasions, the plane had its transponder signal activated.

When the transponder is turned on, the flight can be tracked for its entire duration. The transponder is turned off if the flight path is meant to be kept confidential.

This means North Korea and Russia are no longer hiding their exchanges.

However, details have not been revealed regarding who boarded this military aircraft, what cargo was carried, and the purpose of visiting Pyongyang.

This military aircraft reportedly left Moscow on July 9, visited Pyongyang, briefly stayed in Vladivostok the next day, and then returned to Moscow. According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the same military aircraft left Moscow on the morning of July 18 and arrived at Pyongyang Sunan Airport on the same day.

Bruce Bennett, a military expert and senior researcher at the RAND Corporation, told RFA, “Putin and Kim Jong Un are aware that we are watching the aircraft flying from Moscow to Pyongyang and are concerned about what Russia is transporting by air. North Korea and Russia aim to gain leverage in negotiations with the U.S. and South Korea through these open exchanges.”

As military tensions heighten with the upcoming U.S.-South Korea joint exercises next month, attention is focused on how North Korea-Russia military cooperation will expand.

The Rodong Sinmun also conveyed on the same day that “the importance and necessity of military cooperation between the two countries to defend mutual safety interests were shared,” and “the armies of the two countries, connected by a long historical tradition and combative bonds, need to solidify further and lead the new era of North Korea-Russia relations powerfully, playing an important role in defending regional and world peace, and international justice.”