If both Putin and Kim Jong Un get what they want, disaster awaits: Politics lecturer EDWARD HOWELL warns that as North Korea is cosying up to Russia, East Asia risks becoming the powder keg for another global conflict

When the leaders of two of the most dangerous states in the world meet, to say we should be concerned is an understatement. So when North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin sat down together this week, the West rightly watched with fear.

North Korea has made clear that it has no intention of curtailing its nuclear and missile capabilities: it even launched two ballistic missile tests while Kim was in talks with Putin. Likewise, the Kremlin shows no intention of ending its dirty war in Ukraine. At the same time, China continues to expand its political, economic and espionage tentacles beyond the South China Sea – reportedly even into our own Houses of Parliament.

The direction of travel is clear. If the West is not proactive and vigilant, East Asia could quickly become the next battlefield and, dare I say it, the powder keg for a new global conflict, this time with new technology, whether missiles or cyber weapons.

It came as a surprise when the bulletproof train carrying paranoid Pyongyang non-frequent flyer Kim Jong-un did not stop at its expected destination of Vladivostok, Russia, but instead continued to the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a spaceport in the far east of Russia. the country. This is extremely important. North Korea has been pursuing satellite technology for years, likely as a precursor to developing intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

Kim Jong Un steps off his train after crossing the border into Russia at Khasan, about 127 kilometers south of Vladivostok, Russia, on September 12, 2023.

It is likely that, as with his previous summits in Singapore and Hanoi with Donald Trump, Kim was led by Beijing.

There has been unusual silence in China in the run-up to and during the meeting, and it remains highly likely that Xi Jinping brokered the summit. For all China’s aversion to a nuclear North Korea on its border, the Middle Kingdom needs friends on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim and Putin arrived at the meeting yesterday, each armed with a shopping list. Putin longed for a much-needed supply – albeit low quality – of North Korean artillery shells and anti-tank missiles to use against Ukraine. Kim needed food to feed his starving population, money to prop up his crippling economy, and sophisticated satellite and nuclear-armed submarine technology.

If both leaders get what they want, a global geopolitical disaster awaits. The two bad boys of international relations now appear closer allies than their Cold War predecessors.

Even more troubling, this is not the first time North Korea has attempted to participate in the international arms trade. In fact, Pyongyang has spent years mastering the art of the illegal deal.

Equally worrying is that the United Nations, at its weakest since its creation after the end of World War II, is becoming increasingly powerless to contain these two nuclear-weapon states. If an arms deal were signed at lunch, Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, would be in violation of U.N. sanctions. It’s hard to imagine that they care.

President Putin and Kim Jong Un visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome, in Ogligorsk, in the Amur Oblast of the Russian Far East, in Russia, on September 13, 2023

Kim Jong Un and President Putin examine a missile assembly hangar during their meeting on September 13, 2023

Deal or no deal, Kim will smile on his long 55 km per hour train journey home, knowing that, arm in arm with another rogue state, he can paralyze world politics to his and Moscow’s advantage.

He can also rest assured that Russia’s position in the UN Security Council will veto any sanctions or condemnation imposed on North Korea, whether related to its nuclear program or its blatant human rights violations .

Even more pleasing for North Korea’s third Supreme Leader, but terrifying for the rest of the world, there is now a greater chance than ever that the Hermit Kingdom will conduct its seventh nuclear test – six years after the last.

If the technology is ready, and Kim can get away with it without paying a price, he might as well do it tomorrow.

Dr. Edward Howell is a lecturer in politics at Oxford University and was involved in the founding of the BBC World Service in Pyongyang