The Cyber Defense eMagazine November Edition for 2023

Relationship with a history
Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relations between North Korea and Russia were characterized by
a utilitarian and transactional nature peppered with occasional diplomatic misunderstandings, despite the
legacy of close relations that existed between North Korea and the Soviet Union since Russia is the major
successor state to USSR and North Korea has been founded based on Soviet backing and conceived
directly in Soviet Union between the Soviet leadership and then the country’s future first paramount leader
Kim Il Sung.
In 2015, Vladimir Putin invited the third generation Kim-dynasty North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to
Russia on the occasion of celebrations of the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II, but Kim
was not ready for such a meeting at the time, given his ongoing consolidation of power at home. Russia
also supported UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea until 2017 and failed to make progress
in identifying mutually beneficial areas of economic cooperation. The 2019 summit between Kim and
Putin, held months after the failure of the Hanoi summit between Kim and former US President Donald
Trump, resulted in Putin's solo media briefing on the meeting, reflecting the inability of both sides to find
compatibility in the interests of the two countries.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 provided the basis for a convergence of the political needs and
material interests of the two countries. North Korea has provided political support to Russia by
recognizing the independence of puppet governments in separatist provinces in Ukraine in exchange for
Russia blocking further sanctions in the Security Council for launching long-range missiles in violation of
Security Council resolutions. The respective autocratic leaders of Russia and North Korea have pledged
to increase bilateral economic and security cooperation and North Korean state propaganda outlets
published a commitment to push back against “common enemy”, referring to the United States and their
security partners in Asia. The Russian state-controlled media issued statements on increasing security
ties as a part of Russian strategic posturing in the region as the bulk of the Russian military is tied up in
its war on Ukraine, where Russian progress has grinded down to a halt since the summer of 2022.
North Korea and the impact on the war in Ukraine
North Korea possesses substantial weapons stockpiles and also represents a possible base for the
production of certain types of legacy Soviet design weapons Russia could use, particularly Soviet-caliber
artillery ammunition, although within the constraints of the low efficiency and quality of North Korean
factories and the lack of raw materials. Thus, North Korea will most likely send Russia mainly stockpiles
of old artillery shells, anti-tank missiles and rockets for unguided salvo rocket launchers. All of these
munitions, while effective and lethal, lack modern guidance systems and levels of technological
sophistication. However, as Stalin aptly noted, quantity has a quality of its own, and Russian military
doctrine has historically been based on this principle. The Russian military is doctrinally and structurally
oriented toward the decisive use of overwhelming ground firepower, not firepower delivered to a target
by airpower, as is the case in the United States or Japan. The Ukrainian army is still also largely based
on legacy Soviet tactics, and thus sufficient stockpiles of artillery ammunition is one of the most important
Cyber Defense eMagazine – November 2023 Edition 146
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