At the same time as Russian-Korean relations continued to warm up, the North Korean side suddenly heard a voice of "disharmony".
According to the South Korean daily, the recent summary of the economic development within North Korea over the past five years, referring to the growth of manufacturing, construction and mining industries, depends heavily on cooperation with Russia. Russia's technical assistance and bilateral resource trade are one of the main reasons for North Korea's economic growth.
North Korea attributes economic growth to Russia over the past five years
But it is worth noting that the report also issued a warning: North Korea needs to be wary of “excessive dependence on cooperation with foreign countries” as it “could hinder North Korea’s steps to strengthen its self-sufficiency.”Although the "foreign" here does not have a nickname, but in combination with the above mentioned content, it is not difficult to guess that it is Russia.
The move in North Korea is undoubtedly surprising.It should be noted that the current Russian DPRK is in a real “Honeymoon”. Just recently, a rare scene occurred at the first plenary session of the Russian State Duma’s autumn meeting: all parliamentarians rose up and applauded and thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. The President of the Russian Duma, Volokyn, even publicly said: “Thanks to North Korea’s brotherly assistance, we will never forget this.”
Such a scene is a great courtesy to any national leader. North Korea's assistance in the Russia-Ukraine conflict in exchange for such high-profile thanks from Russia means that Kim Jong-un is enjoying an unprecedented sense of diplomatic presence. However, North Korea chose to pour a basin of "cold water" at this time.
Has the relationship between Russia and North Korea begun to crack? Of course not. In fact, This is just a real awakening from the North Korean level.
[The chairman of the Russian Duma leads all members to stand up and pay tribute to Kim Jong Un]
It is well known that since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Russia has been subjected to unprecedented pressure from the West. Military needs artillery, economic needs breakthroughs, and diplomatic support. In this context, North Korea has become one of the few countries that are clearly willing to stand on the side of Russia.
Russia also reciprocated and provided great help to North Korea, especially in nuclear weapons and economic development. According to South Korean intelligence agencies, In the first half of this year, Russia handed over two or three core components of nuclear submarines to North Korea, including reactors, turbines and cooling systems.
Although these components are not newly manufactured, but are removed from Russia’s outdated nuclear submarines, they are still significant for North Korea, which has always hoped to break the bottleneck of nuclear submarines and long-range strike capabilities, while Russia’s “point-to-point” could allow it to make cross-sectional progress in key areas.
It should be noted that, despite the close relations between Russia and Russia, But after all, they are two independent sovereign countries. Close cooperation is possible, but there should also be a bottom line, and they cannot lose their ability for their partners.
South Korean intelligence agency says Russia privately transferred nuclear reactors to North Korea
Moreover, from the perspective of North Korea, Russia is now showing goodwill to North Korea because it is contained by the West and needs North Korea's "blood and fire" support. But once the situation changes, Russia may not continue to be "generous".
In addition to, The military alliance between Russia and North Korea is not a guarantee once and for all.In addition to the huge economic pressure of Russia itself, its assistance and cooperation with North Korea cannot last unlimitedly.When negotiations with the US West are needed in the future, it is not excluded that the Russian side will turn cooperation with North Korea into a negotiation tool. While the probability is very low, North Korea must be prepared for this uncertainty and risk.
More importantly, from the perspective of North Korea's own development, over-reliance on external aid may slow down its "self-reliance" strategy 。 North Korea has always emphasized independence, especially in the fields of national defense and core technology, and is unwilling to hand its lifeblood into the hands of othersThe warning in this report is precisely the alarm clock for the “dependence psychology” that may appear inside.
Generally speaking, there will be no major cracks in Russia-DPRK relations in the short term. As long as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues, Russia needs the help of North Korea, and North Korea also needs Russian technology and support This complementarity determined that both sides were temporarily “binding ants on a rope.”
But Kim Jong-un's awareness of caution shows that North Korea has not been obscured by the "honeymoon atmosphere" ahead of its eyes. To him,ining cooperation with Russia is important, butining the bottom line of independent development is more crucial.