Putin’s Pyongyang visit heightens South Korea’s security dilemma



Analysis Putin’s Pyongyang visit heightens South Korea’s security dilemma South Korea faces tough choices as Russia and North Korea deepen ties, potentially impacting regional stability Philip TurnerJune 27, 2024 SHARE COPY LINK FACEBOOK X LINKEDIN MASTODON Russian leader Vladimir Putin greets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch facility. \| Image: Rodong Sinmun (Sept. 14, 2023) Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang last week and his signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with Kim Jong Un marks a further deterioration in the regional security situation and heightens South Korea’s security conundrum. However, contrary to what Putin claims to want, the treaty will likely result in South Korea aligning more closely with the U.S., Japan and its Western partners. PUTIN AND KIM’S CALCULATION At face value, the partnership treaty is not new. It simply restores the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistancethat was in place from 1961 until 2000. Nor is the ROK the © Korea Risk Group. All rights reserved. No part of this content may be reproduced, distributed, or used for commercial purposes without prior written permission from Korea Risk Group. LATEST ANALYSIS 01Lee Jae Myung’s ‘pacemaker’ strategy tests South Korea’s leverage with Trump 02Trump’s Korea investment victory lap masks safeguards Seoul still controls 03North Korean POW dispute tests Seoul-Kyiv trust and future Ukraine policy 04South Korea’s CPTPP push exposes the cost of turning trade gains into consensus 05AI storage boom gives South Korea battery makers an EV overcapacity lifeline 06South Korea’s Mexico strategy runs into the hard limits of USMCA politics 07Preschool test ban forces South Korea’s English hagwons to rethink placement 08Lee Jae Myung’s Wall Street pitch tests South Korea’s capital market credibility

Analysis

Putin’s Pyongyang visit heightens South Korea’s security dilemma

South Korea faces tough choices as Russia and North Korea deepen ties, potentially impacting regional stability

Philip TurnerJune 27, 2024

Putin’s Pyongyang visit heightens South Korea’s security dilemma

Russian leader Vladimir Putin greets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch facility. | Image: Rodong Sinmun (Sept. 14, 2023)

Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang last week and his signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with Kim Jong Un marks a further deterioration in the regional security situation and heightens South Korea’s security conundrum.

However, contrary to what Putin claims to want, the treaty will likely result in South Korea aligning more closely with the U.S., Japan and its Western partners.

PUTIN AND KIM’S CALCULATION

At face value, the partnership treaty is not new. It simply restores the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistancethat was in place from 1961 until 2000. Nor is the ROK the

Putin’s Pyongyang visit heightens South Korea’s security dilemma

LATEST ANALYSIS

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Philip Turner