Korea’s World Ilbo reported that North Korea has dispatched Ryong-Hae Choi, who is currently a member of the Politburo Presidium, and Secretariat of the Workers’ Party of Korea, as ambassador to Russia. Both governments of Russia and North Korea announced that Choi will be in Russia from the 17th to the 24th of November.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced that the government and Choi will be discussing ways to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries, economic ties, and also global issues that will heavily influence East Asia and especially the Korean peninsula.
Many are pointing to the fact that North Korea is sending Choi as their ambassador to Russia. Choi, a former military officer is viewed by many experts as the second-in-command to North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un who is the First Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea. In May, Kim Jong Un dispatched Choi as ambassador to China where he engaged in discussion with Xi Jinping, the Chairman of the Chinese government. As a result of this engagement, Kim Jong Un was led to personally visit Beijing for a summit meeting with the chairman.
Many political experts are expecting that Kim is hoping to have a summit meeting with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. North Korea is the world’s most isolated country in the world, both economically and diplomatically. Seung Kim, the former aide to South Korea’s Minster of Reunification explained that North Korea may be using Putin as a leverage to get out of this isolation. He added that the timing for North Korea’s recent diplomatic move falls perfectly with the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit meeting taking place and the G20 Lead Economies conference coming up.
World Ilbo reported that Russia has recently begun to reevaluate North Korea’s economic value. Ever since his re-election, Putin has been working to exercise a great deal of influence over the Asia-Pacific region, organizing large-scale naval exercises near the port of Vladivostok which is very close to the border with North Korea. It is believed that the North Korean government is considering allowing the Russian navy to enter the port of Najin.
Sang-Jang Jung, a lead researcher at the Sejong Research Center estimated that there is a high possibility of a military cooperation between Russia and North Korea. North Korea and China’s diplomatic relationships have begun to become less tight with the Chinese government announcing that it will not be hosting another summit meeting with Kim Jong Un unless he clarifies North Korea’s denuclearization.
Meanwhile, South Korea is preparing for a large-scale military exercise with the U.S. military in preparation of a full-scale invasion, and President Park has announced that the two governments have agreed to postpone the transfer of wartime operations for an extended period of time. After a number of military provocations from the KPA (Korean People’s Army) from both the sea and DMZ, it appears South Korea is maintaining a very cautious attitude towards the North.
