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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un turns to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during an event held in Pyongyang celebrating the 70th anniversary of the July 27 armistice that halted hostilities in the Korean War, celebrated in North Korea as the “Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War.” On the other side of Kim is Li Hongzhong, the first-ranking vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress. (KCNA/Yonhap)

While visiting North Korea on a three-day itinerary with a military delegation in tow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was seen accompanying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at almost all functions, including a major military parade, allowing Pyongyang to boast its intimate cooperation with Moscow. How military cooperation between North Korea and Russia will take shape is drawing attention.

Analysts say the military parade held in Kim Il-sung Square on Thursday night to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1953 armistice that halted hostilities of the Korean War — celebrated in North Korea as the date of its victory in the “Great Fatherland Liberation War” — focused on the possibility of expanding military cooperation amongst North Korea, China and Russia, veering from how North Korean military parades in the last three years have served primarily to show off Pyongyang’s high-tech weapons and promote internal unity.

Especially notable is that during Thursday’s military parade, which showcased intercontinental ballistic missiles, the top delegates of China and Russia — both permanent members of the UN Security Council — sat on either side of Kim. This strategic placement is seen as a move to neutralize UN Security Council resolutions that aim to hinder the development of nuclear weapons and missiles by North Korea.

North Korea exhibited different attitudes towards Russia and China during its celebration. Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, commented, “While the Rodong Sinmun featured 30 pictures of the Chinese delegation on its pages on Thursday and Friday, it featured 84 pictures of the Russian delegation, roughly three times [that of the Chinese].”

Even Saturday’s issue of Tongil Sinbo, a North Korean propaganda weekly, featured significantly more photos of Shoigu than of Li Hongzhong, the first-ranking vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress.

Hong stressed, “North Korea used choice expressions like ‘consensus of view’ and ‘common front’ in articles related to Russia.” On Friday, the Rodong Sinmun reported that Kim specially invited Shoigu to a meeting at the office building of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Central Committee on Thursday, having a “detailed and candid discussion with Sergei Shoigu on the important issues of mutual concern” for their two countries within a “comradely” atmosphere.

Regarding this, South Korea and the US are concerned by the possibility that Moscow, running short of weapons and ammunition due to the war in Ukraine, could receive assistance from Pyongyang, in turn providing technological support to North Korea for ICBM production.

Others are unconvinced by the interpretation that North Korea’s ties with China have weakened compared to the country’s relations with Russia, analyzing that, being only one of 250 or so members of China’s Politburo, Li could only do so much in an official capacity beyond delivering Chinese President Xi Jinping’s personal letter to Kim, being low in rank. China sent three earlier delegations to North Korea, one of them in time for the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding in 2018, all of which were headed by Chinese government leadership or close associates of Xi.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

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