Assessing the next phase of North Korea-Russia ties

In the years leading up to the Ukraine war, due to sanctions and markets shifting to Asia, Russia’s interests in the affairs of the Euro-Atlantic region waned, and this resulted in Moscow’s inevitable pivot to Asia. The Ukraine war geopolitically re-configured Russia’s priorities in the Indo-Pacific, reigniting a relationship with North Korea that had lost its relevance with the end of the Cold War. Although the brewing closeness between the two countries is a factor of their weakening internal political situation, it is also a microcosm…