Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an alliance with North Korea, prompting a violent reaction from the United States and South Korea, which have sent threatening signals to North Korea and Russia.
The rapid development of an alliance between Russia and the DPRK in a short period of time is inseparable from the "joint efforts" of the United States, South Korea and other countries.
How did the United States and South Korea "facilitate" the gradual development of an alliance between Russia and North Korea? What is the reaction of the United States and South Korea?
South Korea reacted violently, and the United States flexed force
On June 19, 2024 local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, jointly signed the Treaty of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.
The Russian news agency Sputnik later reported that according to the content of the treaty, Russia and the DPRK are obliged to "provide assistance to one in the event of aggression against the other."
After the signing of the treaty, the South Korean side showed great unease and resistance, and the Russian rhetoric of "helping the DPRK strengthen its military strength" was fierce.
South Korea immediately issued a fierce protest against Russia's actions, accusing Russia and the DPRK of signing the "DPRK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty" as "violating international law" and "will be subject to supervision and sanctions by the international community."
On the other hand, South Korea said it would consider supplying weapons to Ukraine, a move that was also intended to threaten Russia.
A relevant person from the South Korean presidential office released information to the media that the South Korean government is discussing the policy of abandoning the policy of not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, but whether or not to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine depends on how Russia responds to the position of the South Korean side.
The ROK wants to use "providing weapons to Ukraine" as a bargaining chip to force Russia to compromise with the ROK on the Korean Peninsula issue and abandon its policy of moving closer to the DPRK.
The United States, an extraterritorial force that has single-handedly created tensions on the peninsula, has made its stand more direct and hardline at this time.
On June 22, local time, the US Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt arrived in the South Korean port city of Busan. According to the South Korean Navy, the "Roosevelt" aircraft carrier's docking at Busan was not a targeted act, but was intended to participate in a joint military exercise between the United States, Japan, and South Korea this month.
To ease the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the United States and South Korea should play a constructive role
Now that Russia is siding with North Korea, the United States and South Korea continue to exert pressure on North Korea, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula can be said to be on the verge of breaking out.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula has developed to an extremely tense and dangerous state, and the United States and South Korea have always been important promoters.
Earlier, North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un had said in a public speech that North Korea and South Korea would no longer have a "homo-ethnic relationship" but a "completely hostile relationship." Kim Jong-un's decision to set the tone for inter-Korean relations is inseparable from South Korea's repeated provocations against North Korea.
All along, the South Korean side has done many things to undermine inter-Korean relations, such as distributing posters and leaflets printed with female celebrities to the DPRK, playing pop music over the DPRK, and acquiescing in or even conniving at some non-governmental organizations to drop balloons filled with garbage and excrement into the DPRK.
After Kim Jong-un "set the tone" for inter-Korean relations, the North Korean side followed South Korea's practice and dropped balloons with garbage and excrement on South Korea.
And the United States has taken a tougher approach to North Korea. All along, the Western world system dominated by the United States has imposed all kinds of unreasonable sanctions on the DPRK, which have seriously restricted the DPRK's national development and the improvement of its people's living standards.
Militarily, the United States has also continued to exert maximum pressure and deterrence against the DPRK.
Before the USS Roosevelt entered South Korea, the US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson had already visited South Korea seven months ago. The frequent entry of US aircraft carriers into South Korea is undoubtedly also constantly provoking the already sensitive national defense and security nerves of the DPRK.
The actions of the United States and South Korea echo North Korea's December 21, 2023, statement: "The purposeful and planned military threats of the United States and its followers have pushed the security environment on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia into a vortex of confrontational conflict."
In response to the dual coercion of economic sanctions and military deterrence by the United States, South Korea and other countries, North Korea, which is alone, has been cornered.
Kim Jong-un had already asked the DPRK to "speed up the process of preparing for war" when he set the tone of "completely hostile relations" between the DPRK and the ROK; in fact, the DPRK military has been intensively conducting missile test-firing exercises for some time, including strategic cruise missiles, new anti-aircraft missiles, and medium- and long-range hypersonic ballistic missiles.
In his speech after the missile test, Kim Jong-un made it clear that he wanted to show the outside world that North Korea would not hesitate to carry out a nuclear strike against the enemy's nuclear provocations.
In addition to vigorously developing the building of its own armed forces, the DPRK is also actively seeking cooperation and support from friendly countries.
Ever since Russia began to "look eastward," Russian-DPRK relations have warmed up sharply, and there has been a lot of cooperation and trade between the two sides in the military field.
North Korea's space rocket launches have been frequent, but the launch of North Korea's space rocket was successful just three months after Kim Jong-un's visit to Russia, leading many to speculate that Russia provided technical support to North Korea.
In his subsequent speech, Putin claimed that he would not rule out the possibility of developing military-technical cooperation with the DPRK in accordance with the contents of the treaty, and this would undoubtedly provide an infinite possibility for the development of the DPRK's military strength in the future.
epilogue
Russia, the DPRK, and the ROK are all neighbors of the mainland by a strip of water, and once a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, it is impossible for us to be completely unaffected.
Therefore, we have been working hard to normalize relations between the DPRK and the ROK, and we have always called on all parties to exercise restraint and resume contacts, build mutual trust and resume dialogue as soon as possible in a rational and pragmatic manner, instead of exacerbating contradictions and exacerbating tensions.
In particular, the United States, as the world's superpower, should assume its responsibilities as a major country, face up to and respect the national security and development needs of the DPRK, and should become a builder of peace on the peninsula, rather than a saboteur of the situation on the peninsula for its own selfish desires.