2023-09-13 21:08:27
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met at the Vostochny cosmodrome. There, the Russian leader told reporters that the Koreans “show interest in rocket technology, they are trying to develop space,” and took part in a tour of the cosmodrome along with guests from the DPRK. After the negotiations (see article on pages 1 and 2), Putin said that the parties also talked about cooperation in the military sphere. “There are certain restrictions, Russia complies with all these restrictions, but there are things that we, of course, can talk about, we discuss, we think about it. And here, too, there are prospects,” he said in an interview with the Rossiya 1 TV channel.
The current UN sanctions regime against North Korea, approved by the Security Council, includes a number of measures that seriously limit the capabilities of the country’s space program, including its ability to cooperate with other countries in this area, says Akhmed Marzanov, a lawyer in the sanctions practice of the Delcredere Bar Association. To organize cooperation in the field of aerospace engineering, Russia or North Korea will need to apply to the Sanctions Committee of the Security Council to obtain individual permission. The same applies to the creation of joint ventures with the participation of DPRK entities in the field of space activities.
Marzanov allows the issuance of an individual permit only if the committee determines that it will not violate the objectives of the current sanctions regime. UN Security Council resolutions are legally binding for all members of the organization and are subject to direct application on their territory, says Marzanov. UN Security Council Resolution 1874 in 2009, after this country conducted its second nuclear test, imposed sanctions, including a ban on the import of weapons from the DPRK. It includes a ban on the import of tanks, artillery, airplanes, helicopters, missile launchers and ammunition from North Korea, as well as weapons training services. According to a source close to the Ministry of Defense, there are other forms of near-military cooperation that are not subject to these and other sanctions (for example, holding scientific conferences).
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on September 13 that Russia will build relations with its neighbors in a way that is beneficial to Russia. “In any case, the full range of relations implies both dialogue and interaction in sensitive areas, such as military interaction, exchange of views on the most pressing issues in the field of security. All this will also be implemented. And all other issues concern only our two sovereign countries,” he said.
On the eve of Kim’s visit, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that North Korea would “pay a price” if it supplied Russia with weapons. Reports about the supply of ammunition from the DPRK have been published in Western media for almost a year; no concrete evidence has been provided. South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lim Su-seok limited his comment to saying that Seoul “is in close contact with Moscow” and is monitoring Kim Jong-un’s visit.
It is still difficult to say what the interaction between Russia and the DPRK will be filled with in the military sphere, especially in the field of military-technical cooperation, given that this is classified information, says Ivan Timofeev, director of the Russian International Affairs Council. But practically for Moscow, after the entire array of previously introduced restrictions, the threat of new sanctions for interaction with Pyongyang is unlikely to be any significant incentive, he said.
As for the regime of restrictive measures of the UN Security Council, of which Russia’s sanctions are part, everything will depend on the areas in which cooperation between the two countries will develop. It is obvious that the actions are contrary to the sanctions regime, in the establishment of which the Russian side itself participated, and they can cause reputational damage, says Timofeev.
Options for behavior and the political costs of deepening cooperation with the DPRK are now being weighed: Russia has serious opportunities to influence security in Northeast Asia, he continues. If such cooperation really begins actively, then this will be a big step for Pyongyang to emerge from international isolation, since now its only window to the world is China, and its presence is not particularly advertised, although it is obvious to everyone, the expert says.
Despite the serious sanctions pressure on North Korea, including from the UN, Pyongyang and Moscow can find methods of cooperation with a reduced level of risk for both parties, believes Alexander Vorontsov, head of the Korea and Mongolia department at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The expert noted that Russia respects the UN Security Council resolutions, but has the opportunity and motivation to establish new channels of communication with the DPRK.
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