Up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia’s Kursk border region to help Moscow push back Ukrainian forces. This is indicated by the assessments of the American, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence services. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) says Russia is sending its missile technology to North Korea in return.
With Russia exploiting its military advantage in Ukraine, the United States wants its allies to put political pressure on China to rein in North Korea. Since Pyongyang and Beijing established diplomatic ties in 1949, their relationship has been described as being “as close as lips and teeth.”
One political lever would be the threat of increased Western activity in China’s backyard, the Asia-Pacific region. Last week, the European Union (EU) concluded security agreements with regional powers Japan and South Korea.
In an opinion piece published last week on Politico, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that “China has a particular responsibility here: to use its influence in Pyongyang and Moscow to ensure that they stop these actions. Beijing cannot claim to promote peace while turning a blind eye to the increase in aggression.
During a visit to Latvia on Thursday, Rutte warned that exchanges of missile technology, in particular, posed “a direct threat, not only to Europe, but also to Japan, South Korea and the American continent. Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand now regularly participate in NATO meetings.
“A global problem”
On Wednesday, after talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Rutte also said that “the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific really need to be seen as one theater, not two separate theaters.” “, and that “our security is therefore increasingly global, and we must view this as a global problem.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. (Saul Loeb/Archives Associated Press)
While North Korea and Russia have grown significantly closer, many observers say China is reluctant to form a three-way, anti-Western alliance with them because it prefers a stable security environment to address economic and economic challenges. maintain its relations with Europe and its Asian neighbors.
In a blog post published Thursday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell detailed his recent trip to Japan and South Korea, where North Korea’s troop deployment and other forms of aid to Russia were on the agenda.
“This marks an escalation of the highest gravity, which was of course at the heart of our discussions with the Japanese and South Korean leaders,” wrote Mr. Borrell, who also spoke with Mr. Blinken on Wednesday.
Mr Borrell welcomed the conclusion, during his trip, of new security and defense partnerships with Japan and South Korea, “the first outside of Europe”.
“The EU was certainly not born as a military alliance, but, in the current geopolitical context, it can and must also become a global security provider and partner,” he wrote.
Mr. Blinken said this week that Joe Biden’s administration was determined, in its final months in the White House, to help ensure that Ukraine can continue fighting a full-scale invasion next year , sending as much aid as possible to keep Russian forces at bay or strengthen its position in any peace negotiations.
