Many are puzzled as to why Pyongyang actively supports Moscow in this conflict. A closer look at North Korea’s history reveals that it is fundamentally no different from the “DNR” or “LNR,” which controls certain parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine. This entity was established by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on territory occupied by the Red Army.
Moreover, Stalin did not entrust the leadership of North Korea to Korean communists; their leader, Kim Du Bon, became a subordinate of Soviet officer Kim Il Sung, who headed the party and the country. It is important not to underestimate quasi-states. Even the sons of the new leader were given names that were not typical for Korean boys—Yura and Shura. Shura died in 1947, while Yura became the head of North Korea in 1994, taking on the Korean name Kim Jong Il. This was the father of the current dictator, who was born in the Khabarovsk region of the Russian SFSR. So whom should Kim Jong Un support, if he is the “grandson of Aksyonov” and the “son of Pushilin”?
In the early decades of North Korea’s existence, especially after it failed to control the entire Korean Peninsula, the Kim dynasty was met with irony and even disdain. North Korea was regarded as a non-authentic state not only by Western leaders; even Donald Trump was the first sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader. In the Soviet Union, North Korea was also not taken seriously. No leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union visited Pyongyang during the post-war years, and Vladimir Putin became the first Moscow guest to visit the capital of North Korea. However, there were countless visits to other countries in the socialist bloc. Stalin used the inhabitants of North Korea as “cannon fodder” in the struggle against the U.S., while Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev ignored North Korea.
Today, Putin buys ammunition from Kim, while Kim threatens neighboring countries with nuclear strikes in response. This again illustrates the danger of underestimating quasi-states created by totalitarian regimes for destabilization purposes. Like a true Frankenstein, such a political invention starts to live a life of its own and generates new conflicts. This applies to both the independence of North Korea and the fake independence of annexed Crimea and Donbas. Each time, the underestimation of these fakes has led to new provocations, conflicts, and wars.
Media reports already indicate the use of weaponry supplied by North Korea to the Russian army, as well as the deployment of servicemen by Kim Jong Un to reinforce certain sections of the front. The West needs to implement export restrictions that can curb Russia’s expansionist and revisionist policies, similar to measures taken during the Cold War. Existing sanctions must be enforced more effectively, and new restrictions should be introduced that will lead to serious and long-term economic consequences for Russia, thereby promoting an end to the war.
