There’s a history to Moscow-Pyongyang collaboration

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has spent two days in Pyongyang, meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and signing a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”

Few details are being released about this deal and its expected ramifications for rearming Russian forces stretched by the Ukraine war. But the Kremlin said the agreement would mean each country would come to the aid of the other if attacked. At the top of the agenda for the meeting almost certainly was the war with its attendant Russian military requirements.

Since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 Moscow has been ostracized by the West and its economy has been hit by a succession of harsh sanctions packages. North Korea’s leadership knows all about isolation and has faced decades of economic sanctions.

Pyongyang is also increasingly seen as a threat to the security of the Asia-Pacific region – and potentially the United States, particularly in light of the regime’s longstanding pursuit of nuclear weapons capability.

But Putin is in Pyongyang looking for less sophisticated weapons than these. Despite both leaders denials that they struck an arms deal when they met in 2023 in Vladivostok, North Korea has been accused of supplying Russia with the artillery and ammunition it so desperately needs to keep its war effort in Ukraine going. Putin and Kim denied at the time that they agreed an arms deal.

Meanwhile, Kim has been a supporter of Russia’s position over the Ukraine war, probably because closer ties with Russia offer the best solution to a range of problems North Korea faces. The North Korean leader has been eager to boost the prestige and security of his country since his overtures to then US president Donald Trump broke