What the North Korea-Russia Alliance Reveals

on June 19th Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed an agreement that has major ramifications for the world what obligations does each country have under it could this mean North Korea will start deploying troops to Russian occupied parts of Ukraine and can I comprehend even the basics of international relations let's find out as part of a wider diplomatic tour Putin recently visited North Korea for the first time in 24 years it's like that one friend that shows up when they really need help I mean I wouldn't know I don't have friends they don't let me leave this room the two sign what's called a comprehensive strategic partnership with a side of mutual defense pack I often hear these diplomatic terms thrown around without any real context of what it means if you're on the Derpy side like me here's an easy breakdown of understanding treaties from weakest to strongest the weakest is called a friendship treaty which is basically a symbolic establishment of goodwi it's the equivalent of making small talk about the weather then you've got your trade agreements like NAFTA for reducing trade barriers very cold and transactional like meeting a lady of the night after the that your strategic Partnerships here's where the countryes start to cooperate on political economic and even sometimes security nonsense after that is the comprehensive strategic partnership which is very strong obligations to one another but the fact that this one also had a mutual defense pack means that it's till death do you part the only treaty stronger would be like a mutual defense Alliance like NATO or the Russian Le cioo what are the specific terms of the agreement it states that both countries are required to provide military assistance to one another if either is attacked by a foreign Invasion quote without delay by all means at its disposal end quote in that case they have to send military aid and everything they can spare right away similar to how the war in Ukraine was the impetus that made Sweden and Finland join the NATO alliance it's had the effect of playing Matchmaker with North Korea and Russia it looks like everyone's getting picked for the Kickball team except me it's High School All Over Again part of the reason this new agreement has made ramifications for the world is because Russia will likely now adjust how they vote at the United Nations since Russia is one of only five permanent members of the security Council they wield massive power this is because each member of the security Council has veto power on any resolution this means if Russia vetos against a resolution it can't be adopted regardless of the level of international support we already started to see this recently in March 2024 Russia vetoed a un Security Council resolution that would have mandated that a panel of experts would have to monitor North Korean sanctions compliance any weapons transfers to North Korea or from them violate 10 different un sanction resolutions that Russia supported in the past however they're changing all that now the partnership would also make it easier for the Chinese government to transfer military equipment to North Korea who could then indirectly transfer it to Russian forces this would be a way to get around Western sanctions according to R USI North Korea has already been sending Russia 2 to 3 million artillery shells and thousands of missiles since 2023 these were sent in 10,000 containers across Railways and ships to Russia that's what's at the Crux of this you scratch my back and I'll scratch your nuts agreement Russia gets labor and Munitions and North Korea gets money and political favors in return We Now know from news reports what North Korea is getting in return this includes shipments of increased amounts of food and Fuel and oil they've also unfrozen $9 million in North Korean Assets Now I should tell you that Kim jong-un's influential sister has denied sending weapons to Russia but there's a lot of photographic and satellite evidence to support the claims un monitors confirmed Ukraine's claims that they'd shot down 40 North Korean made ballistic missiles Ukraine is becoming an international melting pot because reports indicate North Korea might now be sending or planning to send troops to Ukraine as early as July this is another possible result of the alliance between the two but what's the source of this nugget of information it came from chosen which is a privately owned South Korean cable TV News Network who got the information from an unnamed South Korean government official the reason this rumor got picked up by some major news outlets was because the Pentagon actually responded to it and didn't outright dismiss it yeah I mean that's certainly something to uh to keep an eye on if I were North Korean military personnel management I would be questioning my choices on uh sending my forces to be cannon fodder uh and an illegal war against Ukraine so you're saying there's a nonzero chance sorry frankly this is all a bit surreal sounds like you're saying if France also sends troops into Ukraine there's a chance we'll see Korean and French troops fight this is truly a cursed timeline that we're living in the South Korean officials said it would be a deployment of several engineering units from North Korea North Korea's military currently operates 10 engineering brigades they would be headed to the Russian held territory in the dunet region allegedly there they would serve a few different functions potentially building defensive fortifications mine clearing mine laying helping with Logistics runs or as laborers to rebuild destroyed towns in the occupied regions the reason this would add to the challenge for Ukraine from a tactical point of view is because it could free up more Russian combat power to be able to fight on the front lines who would have otherwise has been tied up on building fortifications this factor is part of the reason why the United States government is now rethinking allowing several hundred contractors to be allowed to go to Ukraine in 2024 this policy shift would allow defense contractors to help rebuild tanks and free up hands for Ukraine to fight the war in Ukraine appears to be driving Russia who's in need of Munitions towards closer relations with pongyang who is in need of more money and cold Hard Cash according to the South Korean official North Korea will likely send these forces to work as construction workers where they would earn money from Russia to send back to the North Korean government this is an assumption likely made based in part around the history of China and North Korea Labor Relations North Korea could earn an estimated $15 million each year from Russia if they deployed three engineering brigades to occupi Ukraine there is some historical precedent for North Korea sending its military abroad to fight in 1967 North Korea sent a number of Pilots to advise train and fly missions to Aid in the Vietnam War more recently angolan armed forces were trained by North Korean military advisers these were very limited deployments though the chance of a major deployment of 10 of thousands would be needed to make a major difference in Ukraine although that can't totally be ruled out it's unlikely due to language barriers and a lack of joint training observed between the two officially North Korea and Russia haven't made any public announcements of any troop movements yet but part of the reason that the claims are still being taken seriously and as more than just rumor is because there is evidence that North Korea has sent workers unofficially already in February 2024 Korean media reported 300 North Korean workers were sent to vlat V stock in Russia one reason this might have been kept under the radar is because accepting those workers violates un sanctions that Russia agreed to Alexander matora the Russian ambassador to pongyang said quote there there are prospects of cooperation between the dprk and the dumb bouse republics and they are quite extensive firstly Korean Builders who are highly qualified hardworking and ready to work in the most difficult conditions will be very serious so the claim from the South Korean official is that North Korea would send military engineers disguise the civilians to work inside occupied sections in Ukraine further evidence of this being in the works comes from a 2022 quote from the Russian Deputy Prime Minister who said they were quote working on political arrangements to employ North Korean workers in Russia possibly 20 to 50,000 to develop the infrastructure in the Russian Far East there are currently efforts underway to rebuild sections of Ukraine that Russia has flattened the financial times did a profile on Russia's attempt to rebuild the occupied Ukrainian city of marapole that we often don't hear about the city was annihilated during The Invasion with 90% of the buildings damage are destroyed and much of the population fleeing the Russian Federation is now attemp to rebuild marle into a functioning City once again as of a year ago an estimated 50,000 Russians had already relocated to Apartments within the depopulated parts of marapole Moscow is paying billions of rubles to their construction companies to reconstruct the occupied regions it appears like the North Korean Engineers might be assigned to this kind of reconstruction work but the reason this has alarmed some people is the possibility of this Mission laying the groundwork for morphing and turning into something else what starts as a deployment of Engineers could escalate into infantry in the future it's the same reason there concerns about France sending soldiers to the rear in Ukraine while doesn't mean World War III it's not a step towards peace either I think this new alliance is kind of a resurrection of an old pledge between the two that dates back to at least the Korean war in the 1950s the Soviet Union covertly backed North Korea during the war according to recent accounts we know that 70,000 Soviet air defense troops fought alongside North Korea the Soviet Union played a secret unofficial role in The Conflict by providing over 100 Pilots 63 combat aircraft including Mig 15 fighter jets this support was concealed at the time so the Soviets could maintain plausible deniability this was done in part to avoid a nuclear confrontation with the United States during the Cold War but don't take my word for it in July 2023 Putin sent a congratulatory message to King Jong-Un in North Korea to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice and in that letter he for the first time officially acknowledged that the Soviet Union secretly participated in the Korean War Putin wrote in the letter quote Soviet soldiers including pilots who carried out tens of thousands of combat flights fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Korean Patriots and made a great contribution to the enemy's Annihilation end quote it'd be similar to the 1950s Korean War but in Reverse this time North Korea would be covertly sending Aid to the Russian Federation ation instead of the Soviet Union sending Aid to North Korea following the Korean war in 1961 they signed a strong defense Alliance Packa but the close Security deal between the two was made null and void after the collapse of the Soviet Union then we saw it was replaced in the year 2000 but with a much weaker deal that didn't have any security guarantees truth be told relations between Russia and North Korea were not warm and fuzzy for a while after that in July 2006 Moscow supported United Nations security Council resolution 1695 which condemned the 2006 North Korean missile test following 2006 Russia viewed North Korean missile tests as a threat to their security on June 15th 2009 China and Russia both supported un sanctions against North Korea it wasn't until Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that relations started to change when North Korea became one of three countries including Syria and Iran that recognized the Breakaway regions of danet and luhansk people's republics in the eastern Ukraine an interesting way that this might have the tables turn is South Korea is now becoming more open to the idea of arming Ukraine although 300,000 South Korean artillery shells were allegedly already provided to Ukraine but they've stopped short of sending tanks or fighter jets but this change has prompted South Korea to suggest that they could be open to sending the weapons South Korea National Security adviser Chang Jin said Russia would be crossing a red line if they sent High Precision weapon technology to North Korea Putin responded by saying quote South Korea has nothing to worry about but he also warned them against supplying weapons to keev saying it would be quote a very big mistake as you said Russia try uh in desperation to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that has started against Ukraine Russian foreign minister Sergey lvov claimed that only those who were planning aggression against either of these countries would object to this treaty my favorite part of international relations Is these countries having conversations through the media like this I get why it has to be done this way but from my dummy perspective seems like a bizarre High School way to communicate but I'll have you know in high school I was voted most likely to start an anime club which I now that I say that out loud I realized that was not a compliment but what does this stronger alliance mean for Russia's relations with China let's hear from someone who is actually an expert in the field son Yun director of China program at the Washington based sson Center Think Tank said Beijing does not want to form a three-way alliance with North Korea and Russia because it needs to keep its options open such a coalition would mean a new Cold War something Beijing says it's determined to avoid aligning itself with panyang and Moscow would be contrary to China's goals of maintaining relationships with Europe and improving ties with Japan and South Korea Sun said dead end quote now guess what kind of treaty these two have is it a treaty of friendship a strategic partnership according to them it's a no limits friendship it's like raw dogging without a safe word it looks like Russia is trying to establish a group of friendly states that have had historical ties to the Soviet Union so to summarize my totally non-credible diplomatic understanding of the situation Russia and North Korea strengthened their relationship partly because they're both under strict sanctions then South Korea got hurt and said that they would maybe start hanging out with with Ukraine if Russia helped North Korea just because we're getting this info through the grap Vine doesn't mean it's not credible in the Army we headed a private News Network which was all the lower enlisted guys spreading Barracks rumors and 60% of the time they were true every time in the geopolitical chess game alliances are being reshuffled old rivalries reignited old allies reignited as well making for truly unpredictable landscape right now the main difference today is that the countries can no longer hide behind plausible deniability and covertly armed proxy war like they could during the Cold War this is because advances and satellite images make it so anyone you or me we could buy a satellite image live and confirm what's happening and who's sending troops where just like in high school everyone's forming their clicks and the stakes have never been higher and my hope is that nations are able to find a diplomatic solution to these problems speaking of which you know Germany's rebuilding their army transforming it in ways unseen since the Cold War you can find out more if you're interested by clicking the link to this video or typing in task and purpose Germany rearmament hit the like And subscribe button if you found this report valuable I'm your average infan Chris Cappy signing off this net time now got

Channel: Task & Purpose

Views: 612,175

Keywords: russia and north korea alliance, security pact, mutual defense, putin and kim jung un, north korea send troops to ukraine, south korea, united states, foreign affairs, international relations, task and purpose, chris cappy, weapons transfer, embassy, negotiations, diplomacy, diplomatic, explainer, analysis, news, world news, politics, global news, informational, educational, informative, war, warfare, strategy, tactics, foreign policy, geopolitics, history, historical, korean war, soviet union

Id: 8EzuxeIQP14

Length: 15min 10sec (910 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 27 2024