North Korea's Kim Openly Talks Up 'Necessity' of Russia Military Ties

North Korea is no longer concealing its sensitive defense ties to Russia, state media reports suggest, after leader Kim Jong Un openly discussed "the importance and necessity of the military cooperation."

Kim's comments were made at the ruling Workers' Party headquarters in Pyongyang on Thursday as he received a military delegation from Moscow led by Aleksey Krivoruchko, Russia's vice defense minister, according to the party-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

It was the first known follow-up to last month's breakthrough summit in the North Korean capital, where Kim and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, appeared to revive their Cold War alliance.

South Korean intelligence assessments have concluded that the Kremlin is assisting Pyongyang's satellite program and its acquisition of sophisticated weaponry, with the effect of boosting the North's U.N.-prohibited ballistic missile development.

In exchange, according to Western assessments, Russia has received North Korean rockets and millions of artillery shells, which have been used against Ukraine—although both governments deny trading arms.

Kim told Krivoruchko that the Russian army was "waging a sacred war of justice" in Ukraine, and that his government and people strongly supported it, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said in a Friday release.

The North Korean leader "stressed the need for the armies of the two countries ... to get united more firmly," KCNA reported.

The North Korean Embassy in Beijing and Russia's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to written requests to comment on the purpose of Krivoruchko's trip.

In June, Putin flew to Pyongyang for the first time in 24 years for the high-profile summit with Kim. The United States and NATO leaders said the deepening ties between North Korea and Russia were of "great concern."

Longtime North Korea watchers are still picking over the details of a new pact signed by Kim and Putin that pledged mutual military assistance—the most significant elevation of bilateral defense ties since the end of the Cold War.

The agreement closely mirrored a now defunct mutual aid treaty signed in 1961 by North Korea and the Soviet Union. It requires the parties to provide mutual military aid "without delay" in the event of an attack, according to articles published by North Korean state media, but not by the Russian government.

Moscow's lack of transparency on the accords has cast doubt on the nature of its side of the bargain, but the deal could open the door to more formal arms transfers to satisfy the relevant clause.

Rand Corp. researcher Bruce Bennett wrote in June that Russia was already providing North Korea with significant military-technical support without a treaty, including a possible rocket used in May's abortive spy satellite launch.

"Despite North Korean protestations, neither the United States nor South Korea have any interest in invading North Korea—the North does not need a Russian defense commitment, and likely Russia would not have many forces to send to North Korea because of its invasion of Ukraine," Bennett wrote in The National Interest magazine.

He continued: "For Kim, this part of the agreement was thus mainly political, consistent with his recent claims that South Korea is the North's enemy and a real threat."

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