Russian President Vladimir Putin’s June 18-19 visit to North Korea will further enhance the recently reinvigorated bilateral relationship — and exacerbate concerns over the extent of Russian military assistance to Pyongyang.

Putin’s trip, his first to North Korea since 2000, is a reciprocal gesture for Kim Jong-un’s September 2023 trip to Russia.

Though it is unlikely that the two leaders will announce specific arms deals, they could upgrade their military relationship to include a Russian pledge to defend North Korea.

Bilateral Russian-North Korean ties had languished since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine brought new relevance to the relationship. North Korea provided diplomatic support to the invasion and began shipping munitions. Kim’s September 2023 trip to Russia and summit meeting with Putin were breakthroughs in bilateral relations and confirmed the growing military and diplomatic entente between the two countries.

Kim visited Russian production facilities for air, naval, and ground weapons, but no military deals were announced. Since then, North Korea shipped massive amounts of artillery munitions and dozens of its latest short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.

South Korean Minister of Defense Shin Won-sik........

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