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Asia's direct investments with the Ukraine war
As the historic meeting between Putin and Kim showed, the international community was so busy looking at China that it neglected to place equal attention on Pyongyang potentially stepping up to the plate to support Moscow's military offensive against Kyiv.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet on Sept. 13 at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast of the Russian Far East. (Reuters/KCNA)
S
ince Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, there has always been a fear, no matter how tenuous and flimsy, that some Asia-Pacific countries might be supportive of the action of President Vladimir Putin.
The finger has often been pointed at China, with The New York Times going as far as to claim that there were telltale signs that China had been providing Russia with the necessary artillery and ammunition to replenish Russia’s diminishing weapons stockpile as of February 2022, a year after the invasion.
These charges did not stick, however, despite the fact that it was India purchase the bulk of discounted Russian oil and gas, by some accounts to the tune of US$64 billion to date.
While the sense of collegiality between New Delhi and Moscow could be explained by their long relationship, no one seemed to take a long look at what North Korea might invariably do for Russia's war efforts and itself.
Once again, the world has been caught flat-footed with the latest development. In fact, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit last week to the Russian Far East, the second since 2019, should have been expected from the very beginning, given that Russia’s war efforts have been flailing, not unlike Pyongyang’s conundrum.
For decades, North Korea has not been able to remove the proverbial sword of Damocles from the combined military exercises of the United States, Japan and South Korea. If anything, Pyongyang has had to dedicate the largest amount of money per capita to prop up its own military regime, albeit hermetic.
Nor has North Korea's overtures for a treaty of nonaggression from the US ever been taken seriously in order to cushion the military armistice that has been in place since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
