The recent meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin is a sign that the potential risks of their cooperation are becoming reality. Although the details of their discussion are not known, it is believed that they may have agreed to a dangerous deal, which would involve North Korea supplying conventional weapons to Russia and Russia providing its latest weapons technologies in return. This would be a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the US has already taken steps to prevent the Kremlin from gaining access to technology, money and financial channels that could be used to fuel Putin’s war in Ukraine.
If North Korea and Russia continue with their military cooperation, it could cause a significant threat to the international community, not just the Korean Peninsula. South Korea must take action to protect itself, and this could include proposing a revision of the bilateral atomic energy agreement to potentially become a nuclear power. It is also important to make diplomatic outreach to Russia to prevent the situation from escalating into a confrontation between North and South Korea, China, Japan, the US and Russia.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is visiting New York to attend the 78th UN General Assembly, and he should use this opportunity to issue a warning about the potential military exchanges between Pyongyang and Moscow. It is necessary for the international community to make North Korea and Russia accountable for their actions, and South Korea must also redraw its security strategies in order to strengthen its deterrence against North Korea.