No Longer Pariahs
Kim joins Xi and Putin at summit. A bloc once on the margins now claiming center stage.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit is underway in Tianjin, China. Many regional players are represented, but some stand out. Nations once marginalized are seemingly being re-legitimized.
China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and India’s Narendra Modi are in the mix. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is making the 20+ hour trip to China by train. This may be Kim’s moment of cementing his place in the authoritarian club.
The players are at the table for reasons. Russia uses North Korean soldiers and ammo in its war on Ukraine. North Korea needs security guarantees, fuel, and tech from Moscow. India wants access to Chinese tech to boost its industrial output. And China needs to be seen as a peacemaker, the rational actor in an unreasonable world. Xi has urged nations to “oppose Cold War mentality.”
China has historically been North Korea’s main backer. But now Kim has sealed a comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, widening his options beyond Beijing and anchoring his regime more firmly to Moscow’s war machine. Kim touts the bravery of his countrymen who recently fell in battle, calling them “martyrs with indomitable mettle who have helped to write the new chapter in this country’s history.”
Kim has shown his people are willing to fight and die at his command. Intelligence estimates say 600 North Koreans have been killed in Russia’s war with Ukraine, nearly 5,000 casualties altogether.
The Hermit Kingdom doesn’t engage with its southern neighbor, even as the South has taken steps to ease tensions, like removing loudspeakers. Seoul has even halted “Voice of Freedom” radio broadcasts into North Korea for the first time in 15 years. Pyongyang defines the South as a hostile “foreign country,” setting that reality for its people.
China stages its Victory Day Parade in Beijing mid-week, showing its newest military teeth. The parade commemorates the end of World War II eight decades ago. The last time a North Korean leader attended was 1959. According to reports citing a Kremlin official, Kim will be seated on Xi’s left, Putin on Xi’s right, as tanks and new equipment roll past Tiananmen Square.
There’s recalibration in the new world order. In the SCO are the makings of an anti-Western bloc. Fault lines we already knew existed are now easier to see. Russia’s embassy in Pyongyang put it bluntly: the three nations of North Korea, Russia, and China are “ready to build a new international order.”
State media from Pyongyang (Rodong Sinmun) and Seoul’s Yonhap also reported on the summit and parade.