A Study on North Korea-Russia Relations driven by domestic and foreign policy changes: Focusing on Kim's 1st and 2nd visits to Russia

Abstract

State relations accelerate the close cooperation and promotion when national interests coincide. The signing of the North Korea-Russia alliance treaty and Kim's first and second visits to Russia served as a driving force when domestic and foreign policy changes interact with national interests. If the China-Soviet conflict and the strengthening of the South Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance led to the 1961 North Korea-Soviet Alliance Treaty, changes in the environment of the international order, including the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ROK’s northern policy and Putin's equidistant foreign policy, led to the signing of the 2002 North Korea-Russia Friendship Treaty. A comparative analysis of Kim's first and second visits to Russia enabled the derivation of facilitating factors that accelerated the close relationship between North Korea and Russia and challenging factors. This shows that under the international order dominated by power, close contact is accelerated when national interests, such as domestic and foreign environmental factors of North Korea and Russia, namely, domestic political system (leadership), diversification of economy and diplomacy, and securing resources. It is time for strategic thinking that can bring maximum effect with minimal effort through stable situation management of the impact of the US-China-Russia mutual state relations variable. Amid expectations of changes in domestic and foreign exchange environments, it is necessary to closely analyze the impact of North Korea-Russia relations on security in Northeast Asia and devise countermeasures while strengthening the South Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance.