Superzohar (talk | contribs) |
Superzohar (talk | contribs) |
||
Line 197: | Line 197: | ||
On early September 2011 it was reported that North Korea was planning to rent several hundred thousand hectares of land in the [[Amur Oblast]], which has about 200,000 hectares of idle land in regional, municipal or private ownership.<ref>RIA Novosti, September 1, 2011</ref> |
On early September 2011 it was reported that North Korea was planning to rent several hundred thousand hectares of land in the [[Amur Oblast]], which has about 200,000 hectares of idle land in regional, municipal or private ownership.<ref>RIA Novosti, September 1, 2011</ref> |
||
On 2 February Interfax report, further quoted the Russian ambassador to North Korea Sukhinin as saying that Russia "did not rule out" the possibility of sending more [[humanitarian aid]] to North Korea, "depending on the situation there and taking into account our capabilities". Sukhinin went on to say that in 2011 Russia had provided North Korea with 50,000 ton of [[grain]] on a bilateral basis, as well as with 5m dollars worth of [[flour]] as part of a [[World Food Organization programme]]. In addition, 10,000 ton of grain was dispatched to North Korea by [[Gazprom]].<ref> |
On 2 February 2012 Interfax report, further quoted the Russian ambassador to North Korea Sukhinin as saying that Russia "did not rule out" the possibility of sending more [[humanitarian aid]] to North Korea, "depending on the situation there and taking into account our capabilities". Sukhinin went on to say that in 2011 Russia had provided North Korea with 50,000 ton of [[grain]] on a bilateral basis, as well as with 5m dollars worth of [[flour]] as part of a [[World Food Organization programme]]. In addition, 10,000 ton of [[grain]] was dispatched to North Korea by [[Gazprom]].<ref>"Russian ambassador to North Korea upbeat on cooperation prospects", Interfax, February 7, 2012.</ref> |
||
"Russian ambassador to North Korea upbeat on cooperation prospects", Interfax, February 7, 2012.</ref> |
|||
On March 2014 it was reported that a visit of a Russian delegation to North Korea took place, for a meeting of a standing bilateral commission, timed to mark the 65th anniversary of a cooperation agreement between the Soviet Union and North Korea. The parties agreed to move towards settling payments in [[Russian rubles|rubles]] as well as adopting further measures to boost bilateral trade, including easing visa procedures and providing for Russian access to proposed special economic zones in the country. The ministry reaffirmed the countries' mutual interest in joint projects with South Korea, including international connections for railways, gas pipelines and power lines. The Russian delegation also proposed the entry of Russian businesses into the [[Kaesong Industrial Park]], a [[special economic zone]] in North Korea just north of Seoul where South Korean companies are allowed to employ northern workers. The two sides identified areas for further cooperation, including a transshipment complex at the port of [[Rason]] and technical cooperation for the modernization of North Korea's [[mining]] sector, [[Automotive industry in North Korea|automobile industry]] and [[electric power plant]]s. According to the statement, during the talks Russian [[Ministry for Development of Russian Far East|Far East Development Minister]], [[Alexander Galushka]] emphasized that achieving such goals would only be possible if stability is maintained on the [[Korean peninsula]].{{cite web| url =http://en.ria.ru/business/20140328/188842736/Russia-North-Korea-Agree-to-Settle-Payments-in-Rubles-in-Trade.html| title =Russia, North Korea Agree to Settle Payments in Rubles in Trade Pact| work =[[RIA Novosti]]|date=28 March 2014| accessdate = 28 March 2014}}</ref> |
|||
However, of the overall bilateral economic trade between Russia and North Korea, 80% consists of cooperation and investment between North Korea and Russian regional areas. The most active regions are [[Siberia]] and the Far East, mainly the [[Kemerovo Oblast|Kemerovo]], [[Magadan Oblast|Magadan]] and [[Primorski Krai|Primorski]] regions. |
However, of the overall bilateral economic trade between Russia and North Korea, 80% consists of cooperation and investment between North Korea and Russian regional areas. The most active regions are [[Siberia]] and the Far East, mainly the [[Kemerovo Oblast|Kemerovo]], [[Magadan Oblast|Magadan]] and [[Primorski Krai|Primorski]] regions. |
Revision as of 14:57, 28 March 2014
North Korea |
Russia |
---|
North Korea and Russia first established diplomatic relations on October 12, 1948 shortly after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed. Though the two were close allies during the Cold War, relations between them have loosened since the breakup of the Soviet Union.[1] The relationship gained some importance again during the 2000s.
Russia has invested considerable amounts of capital into numerous large-scale, long-term international infrastructure projects involving the Korean peninsula, such as oil and gas pipelines and Trans-Korean and Trans-Siberian railroads junctions. These projects are of crucial importance to the economic revitalization of the Russian Far East, and in the case of a new Korean War, these projects—and Russian economic interests—would be severely damaged. The two states share a border along the lower Tumen River (Туманная), which is 17 kilometers (11 mi) long and was formed only in 1860 when the Tsar Alexander II acquired territory ceded from China in the Convention of Peking.
Favorable perceptions of North Korea in Russia are gradually declining, with only 34% of Russians viewing North Korea as a friendly nation and 60% of Russians believing that North Korea's nuclear arms pose a threat to other countries; only 8% of Russians favor supporting North Korea in a potential conflict.[2] According to a 2013 BBC World Service Poll, 16% of Russians view North Korea's influence positively, with 35% expressing a negative view.[3]
History
Soviet period
Pre-establishment of North Korea
On August 9, 1945, the first Soviet military troops of the 25th Army arrived in North Korea with several influential Soviet officials including N.G. Levedev, Andrei Romaneko and Terentill Shtykov entered the Korean peninsula- the north Korean cities of Unggi (today Sonbong) and Rajin, and attacked Japanese resistance on August 10. After the Japanese surrender, the Soviet Union agreed a three-year Korean trusteeship. After the August 15 Japanese surrender, the Russians entered the major port city of Wonsan on August 21. Three days later they marched into Hamhung and Pyongyang. Through their quick and extensive engagement of Japanese forces, the Soviets won military and political advantage.
1948–1950
In addition, the first unit of the North Korean army was established with guidance from the Soviet army in the same year that South Korean police force was established by the United States and South Korea. This army was developed as the separate North Korean Army (KPA) with the Soviet’s approval. The Soviet Union armed the Korean People’s Army (KPA) when it was formed in 1946. In 1946, the Soviets shipped 17,000 rifles and carbines, 5,800 machine guns, 268 mortars, and 234 artillery guns.[4]
On March 5, 1949 Kim Il-sung visited the Soviet Union and asked for economical aid distributed over a period of six years, reports on the status of American soldiers in South Korea and mentions their lack of trade with other South East Asian countries. On March 17, 1949 the two governments signed agreement on economic and cultural cooperation between the two sides.
Korean war: 1950-1953
On June 26, 1950 the Soviet newspaper Pravda cited Kim Il-sung’s radio report "Address to the Entire Korean People" which said: "On June 25, the army of the puppet government of the traitor Syngman Rhee launched an all-out offensive along the 38th parallel against the northern half of Korea…"
Although China's role during the Korean War (1950–53) is well-recognized, little is publicly known about the support the DPRK received from the Soviet military, which was officially a non-participant. Soviet pilots contributed to the air defense of North Korea, including the defense of the strategically vital Yalu River bridges. The pilots were from elite Soviet air units, many having served in World War II. However, there were far fewer Soviet pilots and crews than those in the armada of American air forces. In addition to their numerical disadvantage, Soviet pilots were in a tactically unfavorable position. They were based in territory neighboring the Chinese border, were ordered not to cross the 38th parallel under any circumstances, and to carry out operations only above territory held by North Korean and Chinese forces (in order to prevent capture). These self-imposed limits, combined with fuel shortages, drastically decreased the potential tactical impact of Soviet forces. There have been claims that Soviet pilots shot down 1,300 American aircraft in combat over North Korea, including about 200 U.S. B-29 "Flying Fortress" bombers, and that Soviet losses consisted of 135 pilots and more than 300 airplanes. Some scholars consider these Soviet figures "shamelessly inflated."[5]
During the first month of the war, the Soviet Union sent to North Korea an additional 124 warplanes, 130 tanks which included modernized T-34s, 32 self-propelled guns, 310 mortars, 248 artillery pieces of various caliber, 84 antiaircraft guns, 50,000 rifles and carbines, 705 machine guns, 68,000 mortar shells, 82,000 artillery rounds, 15,000 tank rounds, and 120 radio stations for command and control.
1953–1956
After Joseph Stalin's death on 5 March 1953, the Soviets changed their view and began to seek an end to hostilities.[6] After the armistice Soviet-North Korean relations went up and down as North Korea tried to be independent from both the Soviet Union and China. In the immediate post-war period, relations improved and North Korea became a Stalinist state. The two countries developed cultural economic and scientific cooperation. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans were educated in the USSR.
1956–1962
Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev’s secret speech at the CPSU Twentieth Congress in February 1956 shocked DPRK politics. The DPRK delegation to the Congress was headed by Choe Yonggeon rather than Kim Il-sung. Kim explained to Ivanov that he could not go to Moscow at that time because he was busy preparing for the KWP Third Congress which would begin 23 April.[7]
While Kim Il-sung purged the people who followed Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization policy, he did not publicly show his negative reaction toward the Soviet Union, unlike China’s policy which publicly denounced Khrushchev. In an article in Rodong sinmun in November 1961, he emphasized that "the judgment of Stalin’s role in the Soviet Union was an internal problem and he had no intention of meddling with that country’s domestic problems". Kim also stated “the Workers’ Party of Korea should abide by the principle of noninterference in domestic problems of fraternal parties".[8]
In order to resolve contentious issues directly with the Soviet leadership, Kim Il-sung made a two-month visit beginning in June 1956, to the USSR, East Germany, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, Poland, and Mongolia, accompanied by some thirty compatriots. Once Kim had returned to Pyongyang on 2 August, the CPSU warned the Korean leader to correct the mistakes of the KWP.[9] The Soviet embassy was watching the political process with unease and alarm. For his part, Kim was afraid that his opponents would capitalize on the CPSU intervention, though he admitted their oppositional activities had waned by the middle of August.[10]
Observing the growing tensions within the DPRK, the CPSU Presidium (prior to 1953 called Politburo) discussed the North Korean issue on 6 September 1956. Mikoyan chaired in Khrushchev's absence, with Malenkov, Kaganovich, Voroshilov, Suslov, Ponomarev, Brezhnev and Gromyko in attendance. The Soviet leaders heard Ivanov's reports on the KWP's August Plenum. They concluded that Boris Ponomarev, head of the Department for Relations with Foreign Communist Parties, should consult with the DPRK ambassador, and the Soviet delegation to the 8th Congress of the CCP, scheduled for that month, should consult with the Koreans in attendance in Beijing.[11]
1962-1964: Ideological alliance with China against the USSR
By late 1962 Soviet-North Korean relations soured as Pyongyang joined China in openly criticizing Soviet “revisionism”. Chinese-North Korean nuclear cooperation in the military sphere was one disturbing possibility for the Soviet Union. The Chinese could perhaps even benefit from North Korea's uranium deposits, which had been identified with the help of Soviet geological teams first sent to North Korea in November/December 1945 to search for uranium, which Moscow badly needed for the Soviet atomic bomb project.[12]
Khrushchev's decision to give in to Washington's demands, thus obviating the threat of a nuclear confrontation, deeply disappointed and infuriated North Korea, for it joined China in condemning "modern revisionism" as a euphemism for the Soviet Union. Insisting that there was no alternative to crushing imperialism by force, North Korea voiced its indignation at the spectacle of "the modern revisionists working hand in glove with the imperialists to undermine Marxism-Leninism".[13]
The deteriorating relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow was clearly reflected in the editorial policy of Rodong Sinmun: articles on the Soviet Union sharply declined and then practically disappeared from the WPK organ. On the other hand, it depicted rapidly growing Sino-North Korean amity. In June 1963, for example, Choi Yong-kun, North Korea's chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, made a three-week journey to China. A joint communique issued at the conclusion of his visit, which Liu Shaoqi, his Chinese counterpart, signed, contained an oblique attack on Soviet revisionism.[14] In September of the same year, Liu Shao-ch'i returned Ch'oe's visit by coming to P'yongyang.[15]
By 1963, the inhabitants of the huge Soviet Embassy compound in downtown Pyongyang felt that they were under siege. All their communications with Koreans were supervised, and most North Koreans who had expressed some sympathy with Moscow had disappeared without a trace. Soviet aid nearly stopped, and most Soviet advisors left the North. On quite a few occasions, the official media of North Korea and Soviet Russia exchanged broadsides of sharply worded critical statements.
1964-1971: Rapprochement with the USSR
Improved relations with the KWP were heralded by the attendance of Korean Premier (and Politburo member) Kim Il-sung at the November 1964 Revolutionary Day anniversary celebrations in Moscow. No high-ranking Korean leader had visited the Soviet capital since the XXII CPSU Congress three years earlier. The Soviets wasted no time in paying a return visit: in February, Soviet Premier Kosygin travelled to Pyongyang: Coming from Hanoi where he had assured Ho Chi Minh of continued Soviet assistance, the Soviet Premier had in his entourage top-ranking military and economic assistance experts. The joint communique issued by the Soviet and North Korean leaders prior to Kosygin's departure hinted that both sides had agreed on stepped-up economic and cultural interchange. It said that the mutual obligation to help each other embodied in the Soviet-North Korean treaty of 1961 had received particular emphasis during the talks.[16] Also, in May of that year a North Korean military delegation led by General Choi Kwang, Vice-Minister of National Defense and General Chief of Staff of the Korean People's Army, arrived in Moscow to participate in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Germany.[17] While in Moscow, the North Korean delegation concluded agreements with the Soviet Union on the latter's military assistance to Pyongyang.
In this period, Soviet reporting of North Korean affairs has been factual, brief, and frequently delayed. For example, the Soviet press carried only a few reports of the Fifth WPK Congress which met from November 2–13, 1970. The coverage was far less extensive than it had been of the preceding Congress held nine years earlier. No Soviet or other foreign Communist party delegation was invited to attend the Congress, which may account for the restrained Soviet interest in reporting it.
But then things changed, dramatically and irreversibly. The anti-Soviet pro-Maoist bloc, clearly in the making in the early 1960s, fell apart in 1966–67 due to the Cultural Revolution. Around the same time, in late 1966, the internal propaganda of North Korea began to criticize "dogmatism" and "superpower chauvinism" clearly associated with China. Relations reached their nadir in late 1968.
Soviet media have emphasized Soviet industrial assistance to North Korea and the plan for regional security in Asia. Greater attention has been given to South Korean internal developments, especially after December 1971, when the emergency law for national security was decreed and implement.
1985–1991
Nevertheless, in the late Gorbachev period, the Soviet Union's traditional role as the primary trading partner to the DPRK began to erode. This was due in part to president Mikhail Gorbachev’s controversial decision in the late 1980s to convert trade with all Communist Bloc countries, including the DPRK, to a hard currency basis. This decision painfully affected everyone involved, including the Soviet Union and turned out to be one of the first steps toward the North Korean economic crisis of the mid-1990s.[18]
DPRK delegations led by Politburo members, went to the Soviet Union to take part in celebrations of the 40th anniversary of Victory Day of WW2 in May 1985 and the liberation of Korea in August 1985, the 25th anniversary of the Soviet-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in 1986, the 70th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution in 1987, and in the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
When Edvard Shevardnadze flew to Pyongyang in September 1990 to personally inform the North Koreans that Soviet-ROK diplomatic relations would be established imminently, Kim II-sung flatly refused to meet with him.
During meetings with Shevardnadze, North Korean foreign ministry officials reportedly announced that "without continued Soviet assistance" they would have to "develop their own 'modern' weapons program, turn to others for support, and cease to trust the USSR". The Soviet Foreign Minister is reported to have responded that "the DPRK would of course have to determine what was in its own best interests", although he did warn the North Koreans against trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability.
Russian Federation
1991–1999
After the dissolution of the USSR, Russia under President Boris Yeltsin, North Korea was seen in official Moscow circles almost as unwanted. During this period, Russia was seeking legitimacy and membership in the various clubs of the major democratic powers. Russian policy toward the Korean peninsula was similarly one-sided and featured unilateral rapprochement with the Republic of Korea and maximum estrangement from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
In January 1992, former Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Rogachev visited Pyongyang as President Yeltsin's special envoy. During his stay, he notified North Korean leaders of Russia's intention to revise the Soviet-DPRK Treaty of 1961 and urged them to hold an inter-Korean summit and to sign a nuclear safeguards accord with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in accordance with its international obligations.[19]
Russian foreign policy during this period officially focused on the country's “inevitable removal from the DPRK,” and Russia's relations with North Korea were effectively frozen. The new liberal elite decided that maintaining ties with a totalitarian regime did not meet Russia's democratic ideals. For example, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev stressed in 1996 that Russia was ready to sell armaments to all comers, excluding North Korea.
In late January 1993, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgiy Kunadze traveled to Pyongyang as a special representative of the Russian president. Kunadze's mission was to assist in the establishment of state to state relations, which were to replace communist party relations, the main avenue of collaboration between the two countries since the 1940s, which had broken down by the end of the 1980s. Kunadze met with Kim Yung Nam Vice Premier and Kang Sok Choo (First Deputy Foreign Minister). The Russian succeeded in getting North Korean agreement to strengthen contacts at the foreign ministerial level, and to reestablish the bilateral intergovernmental commission on economic and scientific-technical issues.
The first meeting of the Inter-governmental Commission for Trade, Economic, and Scientific-Technical Cooperation between Russia and DPRK was held in the spring of 1996 led by Deputy Premier Vitali Ignatenko.[20] This was the highest- level meeting (at the deputy prime ministerial level) between Moscow and Pyongyang since the collapse of the Soviet Union. During the visit, the two countries agreed to restore bilateral trade and economic cooperation to its 1991 level. The two sides also agreed to restore bilateral inter-governmental commissions and to establish working-level bodies between North Korea and the Russian Far Eastern province for bilateral cooperation in science-technology, forestry, light industry, and transport. Ignatenko carried Yeltsin's personal message to Kim Jong-il. In the message, Yeltsin expressed his hopes for tension reduction on the Korean peninsula and North Korea's continuing observance of the Armistice Agreement. Kim Jong Il expecting that Zyuganov, the Communist Party leader, would win the coming presidential election in June–July 1996, did not even send a letter of reply, nor did he meet with the Russian delegation.[21]
In the wake of Ignatenko's trip, in rapid sequence, Moscow and Pyongyang signed a number of bilateral agreements on investment protection, scientific cooperation, and cultural exchanges. On November 28, 1996, DPRK Ambassador to Russia Son Song-Pul and Russian Minister of Economy Yevgeny Yasin signed an agreement on encouragement and mutual protection of investment in Moscow[22]
On December 16, Vice-Director Pak Yong-Hyop of the DPRK National Academy of Sciences and Secretary General N. Aplate of the Russian Academy of Sciences signed an agreement on scientific cooperation and a protocol on 1996–2000 scientific cooperation in Moscow.[23] On December 26, Vice-Chairman Kim Yong-Su of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations With Foreign Countries and Russian Ambassador to the DPRK Valery Denisov signed an agreement on cultural cooperation in Pyongyang.[24]
On April 26–29, 1996, Gennadiy Seleznyov, Chairman of the State Duma of the State Duma and a communist, led a Russian parliamentary delegation on an official visit to North Korea for the purpose of continuing the Russian government's efforts to normalize bilateral ties. During the visit, representatives from both countries discussed ways to develop relations between the two countries and exchanged views on the present situation on the peninsula.[25]
On November 28, 1996, DPRK Ambassador to Russia Son Song-pul and Russian Minister of Economy Yevgeny Yasin signed an agreement on encouragement and mutual protection of investment in Moscow[26]
Russian diplomats began to realize that Moscow's relationship with Pyongyang had to be improved in order to achieve a balanced position on the Korean peninsula. In the fall of 1996, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs from both countries signed a plan covering diplomatic exchange and an agreement on cultural and scientific cooperation for 1997–1998. This agreement became the basis for the conclusion of numerous interdepartmental agreements in the following years.
In May 1997, a Russian parliamentary delegation led by Vladimir Lukin, chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee, visited Pyongyang. In June 1997, another Russian delegation led by Mikhail Monastirsky, chairman of the Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific Area Subcommittee of the Geopolitical Affairs Committee of the State Duma visited Pyongyang for talks with members of DPRK Supreme People's Assembly.
The second meeting of the inter-governmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation was held in Moscow from October 13 to 15, 1997. The purpose of this meeting was to find ways to resume cooperation in the various fields that had been interrupted since early 1990s. This meeting was considered a framework meeting and is of a consultative and recommendatory character. During the session, the DPRK and Russia signed four documents of an economic nature: three protocols on agricultural cooperation, interaction in the sphere of the veterinary science and a quarantine of plants and the protocol “on economic and technological cooperation".[27]
On 7 September 1998, Yeltsin sent Kim congratulations upon his re-election as Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK at the first session of the 10h Supreme People's Assembly. He said the Russian Federation has consistently held that its relations with the DPRK will develop in the spirit of good neighbourhood, equality and reciprocal cooperation. He wished Kim Jong-il and all the friendly Korean people success in the work for socio-economic progress and peaceful reunification of the nation.[28]
On October 1998 in the 50th anniversary of the relations between the two countries Deputy Foreign Minister Yi In-kyu said during his address at the Russian embassy "The People's Democratic Republic of Korea intends to develop friendly relations with Russia in the interests of both nations", and that is "an important historical moment in the development of friendship and cooperation between our nations".[29]
In February 1999 a DPRK-Russia Goodwill Association delegation, headed by Yi Song-ho, vice chairman of the Committee for Cultural Relations With Foreign Countries, visited Moscow and in March and April a DPRK-Russia goodwill parliamentarian's delegation visited Russia.
2000–2010
Vladimir Putin's elevation to Prime Minister in August 1999 and then President in March had critical significance for Pyongyang, which attributed its previous grievances to Boris Yeltsin. Kim Jong-il's references to Putin were to the effect that at last Russia had a leader “with whom to do business.” However, intensive diplomatic hard work had to precede a historical breakthrough in Russia–DPRK relations. These efforts began to bear fruit in late 1998, and by March 1999, it became possible to agree completely on the text and initial new Treaty on Friendship, Good-Neighborly Relations and Cooperation. It was signed in February 2000, after Yeltsin left the political arena.
Starting in April 2000, covert preparations for a visit by President Putin to Pyongyang began. The first summit meeting in the history of Russian-Korean relations took place in July 2000 when a Joint Declaration was signed, the first international document signed by Kim Jong-il as leader of the DPRK.
In April 2002, a delegation from the DPRK's Main Department for Atomic Energy, headed by its Chief Lee Choi Saeng, visited Moscow, as well as a delegation from the Academy of Sciences, headed by its Vice-President Kang Dong Kyun, who afterwards visited Novosibirsk.
On Kim's summer 2002 trip to eastern Russia the head of port operations at Vladivostok reminded him that it was from this port that Soviet soldiers had embarked in 1945 to accept the Japanese surrender in Korea, Kim ignored the opportunity to thank the Russians and merely said "please tell me about the future of this port". Later, when a Russian reporter asked him if North Koreans celebrate the Soviet liberation of Korea, Kim responded "I plan to talk about current issues with the president. I don't intend to talk about history".[30]
Following North Korea's withdrawal from the NPT on 10 January 2003 and its decision to suspend participation in the six-party talks on 10 February 2005, official Russian representatives expressed concern, and stated that such actions did not correspond to the goal, supposedly shared by the DPRK, of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
In 2005, the active dialogue and exchange of delegations between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the fields of politics, economics, culture, science and technology continued: DPRK representatives took part in Moscow celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, and in August and October, high-level Russian delegations headed by the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Federation President in Far-East Federal District Pulikovsky attended two different celebrations in Pyongyang commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Korea and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea. On both occasions the Russian delegation was greeted by Kim Jong-il.[31]
Additionally in 2005, the chairman of the State Duma's Committee for International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, visited Pyongyang, St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko paid a visit to North Korea on 5–6 December.[32]
During the second half of that year, during which two sessions of the six-party talks took place, including the meeting that produced the September 19 Joint Statement, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister accepted the DPRK Ambassador Pak Ui Chun seven times.[33]
In 2006 Russia supported United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695 in July, condemning the 2006 North Korean missile test.
On May 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree prohibiting Russian state and government agencies, industrial, commercial, financial and transport companies, and enterprises, firms and banks from exporting or transiting military hardware, equipment, materials, or know-how which could be used in North Korea's nuclear or non-nuclear weapons programs.[34]
On April 2009 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited North Korea and signed a plan with Mun Jae Chol, acting chairman of the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries on 2009–2010 of cultural and scientific exchange.
After the North Korean nuclear test on 25 May 2009, North Korea's relations with China and Russia were taken to a different level. Russia, fearing that North Korea's success could lead to a nuclear war, joined China, France, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom and the United States in starting a resolution that could include new sanctions. The Russian news agencies were outraged when North Korea even threatened to attack neighboring South Korea after it joined a U.S. led plan to check vessels suspected of carrying equipment for weapons of mass destruction. Another concern was that the nuclear test can be a threat to the security of Russia's far east regions which border North Korea. South Korean president Lee Myung-bak had a phone conversation with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, where Medvedev advised him that Russia will work with Seoul on a new U.N. Security Council resolution and to revive international talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.
On 15 June 2009, China and Russia have supported the UN sanctions on North Korea. However, the two countries stressed that it did not gain the use of force. Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin insisted that any sanctions should be lifted once North Korea cooperates. Also, On 30 March 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree implementing intensified United Nations Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang's nuclear programs. The presidential decree banned the purchase of weapons and relevant materials from the DPRK by government offices, enterprises, banks, organizations and individuals currently under Russia's jurisdiction. It also prohibited the transit of weapons and relevant materials via Russian territory or their export to the DPRK. Any financial aid and educational training that might facilitate North Korea's nuclear program and proliferation activities were also forbidden.[35]
The 2010s
In December 2010 the North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, Lavrov, in what was seen as North Korean trying to control criticism about its attack on South Korea's Yeonpyeong island. Lavrov told the North Korean official that Pyongyang's November 23 artillery strike on Yeonpyeong island "resulted in loss of life" and "deserves condemnation".
There had been increasing DPRK-Russian interactions in the weeks prior to Kim Jong Il visit to Russia on August 2011:[36] On 26 July, the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries hosted a "friendship meeting" which commemorated KJI's 2001 trip to the Federation and “the adoption of the DPRK-Russia Moscow Declaration.” On 28 July, in a commemoration of the same event, an exhibition was opened at the Pyongyang Center for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. At the same time, two documentary films about Kim Russian trips were screened at Taedongmun Cinema in Pyongyang. On 14 August, DPRK media reported that KJI received a telegram from Medvedev on the occasion of the Korean Peninsula's liberation that said:[36]
“History has proved the solidity of friendship between the people of our two countries. We are willing to expand cooperation with the DPRK in all directions of mutual interest, including a trilateral plan among Russia, the DPRK and the ROK in the fields of gasification, energy, and railway construction.”
On August 24, 2011 the two leaders met on a hotel in the town of Sosnovy Bor near Ulan Ude and agreed on a deal for a gas export pipeline to South Korea and on North Korea's return to nuclear talks without precondition.[37] Medvedev ordered a commission to evaluate the parameters of laying a gas pipe through North Korea, according to the president's statement posted on the Kremlin website.[38] Before arriving to meet Medvedev, Kim visited the Bureya plant, where he swam in a pool filled with water from Lake Baikal.
The two leaders also discussed a plan for Russia to extend power lines into North Korea to sell electricity from facilities like the Bureya hydroelectric plant.
On October 18, 2011 Russian and North Korean officials have marked the 63rd anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties in an event at the North Korean embassy in Moscow. The evening's event was attended by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin.[39]
Delegation of Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) visited Pyongyang during 12 to 14 December 2011. On December 13 (Tuesday) Rosaviatsia director Neradiko Alexandr and Kang Ki-sop, director of General Bureau of Civil Aviation signed an agreement on civilian search and rescue between Russia and the North Korea.[40]
Following the North Korean announcement that it has agreed to introduce a moratorium on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches and the program of uranium enrichment exercised at the nuclear research centre at Yongbyon, State Duma Defence Committee First Deputy Chairman Sergei Zhigarev said North Korea's new steps can help ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, while his colleague, State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee First Deputy Chairman Konstantin Kosachev noted that Pyongyang's moratorium on nuclear activities is the way for North Korea to put an end to international isolation. Kosachev attributed this move to the tension-reduction approach of the North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un.[41] The following day, Russia's foreign ministry statement said "We welcome North Korea's decision to impose a moratorium on testing nuclear weapons and launching long-range ballistic missiles, and enriching uranium".[42]
After Putin won the 2012 Russian presidential election Kim Jong-un congratulated him, writing in a letter "I wish you achievement in your responsible work for building a powerful Russia, expressing belief that the traditional bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation would grow stronger".[43]
In April 2012 on the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth, North Korea's Consulate General in Nakhodka gave a reception. An exhibition devoted to the 100th birth anniversary of Kim Il-Sung opened at the museom in Nakhodka. The exhibition featured photographs of Kim Il Sung, his books as well as the works of his son Kim Jong Il. The exhibition also presented photographs of the Kim Jong Un, the grandson of Kim Il-sung. DPRK Consul General Sim Guk-ryon told the audience about the life of the first DPRK president and the country's achievements under his leadership. Nakhodka deputy mayor Boris Gladkikh for his part noted good-neighbourly relations between the DPRK and the Primorsky Territory, stressed a significant role played in this sphere by the North Korean Consulate General in Nakhodka. At the opening of the exhibition North Korean and Russian amateur artists, sang songs in honour of Kim Il Sung in the Russian and Korean languages.[44]
In May 2012 Russia appointed Alexandr Timonin as the new ambassador to North Korea. The latter presented his credentials to Kim Yong Nam at the Mansudae Assembly Hall.[45] In June 27, 2012, during the visit of the Deputy Foreign Minister of the DPRK Kung Seok-ung to Moscow, Foreign Ministries of both countries have signed an inter-ministerial plan of exchanges on 2013–2014. On June 5, 2012, the two sides concluded a Boundary Treaty between the two governments.
In September 2012 Russia agreed to write off 90% of North Korea's $11 billion historic debt to Russia as a sign of closer engagement with North Korea's new leader.[46]
During the North Korean crisis which occurred in early 2013, North Korea asked Russia on Friday to consider evacuating staff from its embassy in Pyongyang because of increasing tension on the Korean peninsula. The embassy's spokesmen Denis Samsonov said Russia was examining the request but was not planning an evacuation at this stage, and there were no outward signs of increased tension in the North Korean capital itself.[47]
On December 2013 President Putin signed a decree on sanctions against North Korea, following the U.N Security Council resolution adopted in March of that year, which introduced new set of constraints, which allows to block bank transactions, freeze the accounts of the DPRK, to inspect aircraft and vessels, as well as diplomats in search of large sums of cash on suspicion that they are aimed at the development of nuclear and missile programs in Pyongyang. The decree which was signed by the president, prohibits all public, commercial and industrial enterprises in Russia to give North Korea any technical assistance and advice in the matter of ballistic missiles, the courts of this country who refuse to pass inspection will be denied entry into port, and the government will exercise vigilance in dealing with Korean diplomats. The document also listed the names of the inhabitants of North Korea who are engaged in the country's nuclear program.[48]
On February 2014, during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, a delegation headed by Kim Yong-nam travelled to represent North Korea, even though the latter didn't participate in these Olympics. Nam had a meeting with President Putin, as well as Kim also met a number of Russian parliamentarians and state officials in Moscow en route to the Games in Sochi. These included Valentina Matvienko and Ilyas Umakhanov of the Russian Federation Council, Mikhail Margelov, the chair of the International Affairs Committee of the same body, and Vice Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov. KCTV also introduced the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics on the day it took place, the 8th, focusing on the presence of Kim Yong Nam.[49]
Border
Russia and North Korea share a 17 km border along the Tumen River. The border was created in 1860 when China ceded territory to Russia. Over time, there has been need to re-demarcate the border due to the changing course of the Tumen River. The Soviet Union and North Korea signed an agreement on 22/01/1986 to demarcate their border and then again in 03/09/1991.[50] On the Russian side standing the "Korean-Russian House of Friendship" (Russian: Дом корейско-российской дружбы) at 42°24′51″N 130°37′49″E / 42.41417°N 130.63028°E.
On May 1999 the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that it was confirmed on in clauses 13 and 14 of a copy of the 1990 border treaty between Russia and North Korea that Russia agreed to send migrant workers such as loggers, defectors and asylum seekers back to the DPRK. Clause 13 defines who is and who is not a defector, while 14 covers their treatment, stating that the two governments agree to inform each other's representative of the arrest of illegal border-crossers immediately, and following any investigation of criminal acts may detain them for the duration of any prison term, before repatriating them to their country of origin.[51]
Between 2000 and 2003 The North Koreans conducted a joint topographical survey on terrain changes, which confirmed floods eroded part of both territories and washed away most of the boundary markers set up after the 1991 agreement. On November 3, 1998, Russia and North Korea, alongside with China signed a treaty in Pyongyang to clearly demarcate their territorial waters on the Tumen River, which borders the three countries.[52] The document was signed on behalf of Russia and China by ambassadors Valeriy Denisov and Wan Yongxiang and for North Korea by Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Su-hon.[53] On February 9, 2004, deputy minister of foreign affairs Alexandr Losukov and North Korean ambassador Pak Yi Chun signed a new protocol between Russian government and North Korean government about state border demarcation. To prevent further erosion, Russia planted willows along the river in 2003 and has built a 13-kilometer bank, spending approximately 11 billion won since 2005.[54]
In a press conference following North Korea's 2009 nuclear test, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Lakizo chief of the FSB Border Guard in Russia's Primorsky Krai said Russian border guards are on duty as usual. He refused to comment on the nuclear test and instead focused on cooperation with the North Korean border guards saying "We have good relations with the North Korean border guards. We meet regularly at the level of Chiefs of Rason district border.[55]
Economic relations
After the Korean War, the Soviet Union emerged as the main trading partner and sponsor of North Korea. Ninety three North Korean factories were built with Russian technical assistance, forging the country's heavy-industrial backbone. Soviet aid to the DPRK indeed expanded from 1965 to 1968, especially after Sino-North Korean relations soured during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
In 1988, at the peak of the bilateral relationship, about 60% of North Korea's trade was with the Soviet Union. Much of the trade was in raw materials and petroleum that Moscow provided to Pyongyang at concessional prices. The economic reforms in Russia and the end of the Cold War greatly reduced the priority of the DPRK in the strategy of Russian foreign policy. Relations between the two cooled seriously in the 1990s as Russia recognized South Korea, announced that trade with North Korea was to be conducted in hard currencies, and opted out of its bilateral defense agreement. Trade turnover between the two states had dropped from US$1 billion, during the peak of the Soviet-DPRK trade in the late 1980s, to $1.97 billion in 1990 and to $0.58 billion in 1991; in 1993, export levels had declined to a mere 10% of its previous contributions. By 1999 the number stood at US$80 million. In 1989, 830,000 tons of freight passed through the border from Russia (Khasan) to North Korea (Tumangang). By 1998 this number stood at 150,000 tons.[56]
Major Russian exports to the DPRK include mineral fuels, wood and pulp, fertilizers, ships/boats, and iron/steel. The large increase in 2003 came mostly in refined oil (total exports of mineral fuel oil jumped from $20 million in 2002 to $96 million in 2003). Pyongyang had to turn to Russia for petroleum, as supplies of fuel oil from the United States, Japan, and South Korea were curtailed as the six-party talks bogged down. During 2000–2005, trade grew from US$105 million to US$172.3 million, an increase of 64%. The value of Russian exports for the first nine months of 2005 reached US$168.7 million, while imports were estimated at US$3.6 million. Russia's main export items were, oil products (63%), ferrous metal and steel production (8%), and machinery and equipment (8%). Major Russian imports from North Korea include machinery, electrical machinery, tools/cutlery, and railroad equipment. Russian exports of grains to North Korea was no more than 890 tons in 2002, but increased to 1,070 tons (mainly wheat) in 2003, and to 34,716 tons ($5.31 million) in 2004. In 2005, however, there were no Russian grain export to the North again. The Kremlin's approval of international sanctions against the former communist ally was accompanied by the curtailment of trade with the North. At the time of North Korea's nuclear test in October 2006, Russia published trade statistics only from January to March 2006, and Russia's exports of petroleum products to the North, compared to the same period of the previous year, drastically decreased by 91.1 percent (6,092 tons), while exports of food grains remained zero. Because of the nuclear test, Russia's total exports to the North are likely to sharply decline.
In response to the famine stricken North Korea in the mid-1990s, Russia delivered humanitarian aid to North Korea twice in 1997: food and medicine, worth 4.5 billion "old" Rubles, in the fall, and 370 tones of sugar, canned meat, fish and milk worth 3.5 billion rubles, in December.[57]
In 2008, Russia delivered oil and food to North Korea only in accordance with its obligations associated with the progress at the Six-Party Talks.
In 2007, for the first time in the post-Soviet era, North Korea saw a major Russian investment: In the city of Pyongsong the Russian auto plant Kamaz opened its first assembly line, specialising in the production of medium-size trucks named "Tebaeksan-96". Although less than 50 trucks were assembled in 2007 this cooperation became an important milestone in the development of bilateral relations. While the project doesn't violate United Nations sanctions on North Korea, it shows Moscow's drive to expand its influence in the country.[58]
On 19.8.2011 ahead of Kim Jong il visit to Russia, the Kremlin said that it was providing food assistance, including some 50,000 tons of wheat.[59] Few days after Kim's visit the presidential envoy to Russia's Far East Viktor Ishayev, said wheat deliveries will begin via the town border of Khasan in September.
A week later A Russian economic delegation, led by Minister of Regional Development Viktor Basargin, was in North Korea to sign "a protocol of the 5th Meeting of the North Korea-Russia Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation in Trade, Economy, Science and Technology"[60] Also on same day, Also on Friday, the North's premier, Choe Yong-rim, met with the Russian economic delegation at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang.
On early September 2011 it was reported that North Korea was planning to rent several hundred thousand hectares of land in the Amur Oblast, which has about 200,000 hectares of idle land in regional, municipal or private ownership.[61]
On 2 February 2012 Interfax report, further quoted the Russian ambassador to North Korea Sukhinin as saying that Russia "did not rule out" the possibility of sending more humanitarian aid to North Korea, "depending on the situation there and taking into account our capabilities". Sukhinin went on to say that in 2011 Russia had provided North Korea with 50,000 ton of grain on a bilateral basis, as well as with 5m dollars worth of flour as part of a World Food Organization programme. In addition, 10,000 ton of grain was dispatched to North Korea by Gazprom.[62]
On March 2014 it was reported that a visit of a Russian delegation to North Korea took place, for a meeting of a standing bilateral commission, timed to mark the 65th anniversary of a cooperation agreement between the Soviet Union and North Korea. The parties agreed to move towards settling payments in rubles as well as adopting further measures to boost bilateral trade, including easing visa procedures and providing for Russian access to proposed special economic zones in the country. The ministry reaffirmed the countries' mutual interest in joint projects with South Korea, including international connections for railways, gas pipelines and power lines. The Russian delegation also proposed the entry of Russian businesses into the Kaesong Industrial Park, a special economic zone in North Korea just north of Seoul where South Korean companies are allowed to employ northern workers. The two sides identified areas for further cooperation, including a transshipment complex at the port of Rason and technical cooperation for the modernization of North Korea's mining sector, automobile industry and electric power plants. According to the statement, during the talks Russian Far East Development Minister, Alexander Galushka emphasized that achieving such goals would only be possible if stability is maintained on the Korean peninsula."Russia, North Korea Agree to Settle Payments in Rubles in Trade Pact". RIA Novosti. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.</ref>
However, of the overall bilateral economic trade between Russia and North Korea, 80% consists of cooperation and investment between North Korea and Russian regional areas. The most active regions are Siberia and the Far East, mainly the Kemerovo, Magadan and Primorski regions.
Labor trade
North Korea's export of labor to Russia dates to the Soviet era, when prisoners were used in logging compounds that were run entirely by North Korean security forces. In 1995 the North Korean and Russian governments renewed the treaty that had lapsed in 1993 under which North Korea would supply 15,000–20,000 loggers to work off Soviet-era debts. A variety of other North Korean enterprises have subsequently entered the business of providing contract labor in logging and the construction sector in Vladivostok.[63]
In 2004, the Russia Federal Immigration Service issued in 14,000 licenses for the employment of North Korean laborers in Russia. Following strong demand from local companies, just in 2006 regional authorities of Primorsky Krai agreed to issue extra 5,000 working visas to North Koreans.[64]
year | 1990 | 1992 | 1996 | 1997 | 2000 | 2001 | 2010 |
trade turnover (million$) | 2600 | 600 | 65 | 90 | 105 | 115 | 110 |
Debt
North Korea owns a debt to Russia. In the second meeting of the inter-governmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation, North Korea for the first time officially pledged to repay its debts to Moscow, and the parties signed an agreement in principle to resolve the debt problem.[65]
Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said Russian President Medvedev and Kim Jong-il reached a "common approach" on Pyongyang's Soviet-era debts. He also said that North Korea should first recognize Russia as a successor state of the Soviet Union. Then the two states need to recalculate the sum of the loan, which was issued in Soviet rubles at the exchange rate of 0.6 rubles per $1, and Only then the two countries may launch negotiations "on how to repay the resulting sum".[66]
On 18 September 2012 North Korea and Russia signed a deal on debt owned by Pyongyang to Moscow. It is estimated that North Korean owed about $11 billion. North Korea's debt was made during the existence of the Soviet Union when the Soviets made loans to the Koreans. The negotiations about debt reduction were held earlier in 2012, while the deal was signed in Moscow.[67]
In 2011 it was reported that Russia would write off 90% of the North Korean debt and in return Russia would be allowed to invest in North Korean projects in the energy, health and education sectors, as reported in 2012. One of the major projects planned by Russia was build of a gas pipeline to energy-hungry South Korea through North Korea. The multi-billion project is, however, unlikely to be realized as North and South Korea are still de iure at war.[67]
On September 2012 it was announced Russia had written-off 90% of North Korea's debt. Moscow said the remaining $1 billion or so of the debt racked up by Pyongyang when it was a client state of the Soviet Union would go towards energy and education deals as well as development aid. Konstantin Vyshkovsky, head of the debt department at the Russian Finance Ministry said "It will be decided later by the parties for what purposes the funds received for the repayment of this debt will be used".[68][69] The agreement was signed in Moscow by Vice-Minister of Finance Ki Kwang-ho from the North Korean side and Vice-Minister of Finance Sergey Storchak from the Russian side.
On March 2014 the Russian Government submitted to the State Duma an agreement that was reached at the negotiations that lasted almost twenty years and took account of the special features of financial, political and economic relations between Russia and North Korea. Debt settlement embraces all the categories of reciprocal financial claims and obligations of the former USSR and the DPRK, with the precise parameters registered on the date when the agreement is signed. According to the agreement Russia write off 90% of the debts amount and 10% is left will be utilized for financing the joint projects implemented on the North Korean territory.[70]
Military relations
In the mid-1950s North Korea's strategic-military importance to the Soviet Union declined for several reasons. First, Stalin's successor Nikita S. Khrushchev downplayed the prospect of war with the United States and pursued instead a policy of peaceful coexistence and economic competition with the West. In this context, the threat of a remilitarized Japan appeared less ominous than it had to Stalin. Indeed, Soviet-Japanese relations were normalized in 1956, and in the 1960s Moscow consistently overruled Kim Il Sung's objections to Soviet-Japanese rapprochement.[71] Second, Khrushchev's military strategy focused on increasing the Soviet nuclear arsenal to the detriment of conventional capabilities, thus undercutting North Korea's importance as a possible military theater.[72]
There is an exchange of Defense Ministry delegations on the basis of an agreement signed back in 1992. The economic and political reforms taking place in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1989 produced a shift in relations with North Korea. Naval exercises with the Soviet Union were stopped in 1990.[73]
After dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia resumed military supplies to the DPRK, underlining the fact that North Korea is a member of the United Nations, enjoying equal rights and not subject to any sanctions; therefore, no legal obstacles exist to commercial deliveries of arms and weapons. At the same time, officials point out that Russia can only supply weapons to meet the defensive requirements of Pyongyang (not offensive), and only on the basis of commercial profitability (and taking into consideration the overall security situation in the Far East).
Throughout the 1990s, North Korea tried illegally to recruit missile and nuclear experts from Russia (and other former Soviet republics). In November 1993, North Korean Major General and Counselor at the North Korean embassy in Moscow, Nam Gye-bok was expelled from the embassy for attempting to recruit Russian scientists to work in North Korea.[74]
A report in January 1994 on Russia's decision to sell 12 de-commissioned submarines to Pyongyang attracted much attention. The submarines were to be sold as scrap metal at $276,000 for a total of 2,126 tons ($130 a ton) to North Korea, and ten of which were Golf II class equipped with three SSN-5 ballistic missiles. It was feared that North Korea might use parts of the Golf II class submarines for its missile program.[75]
Asked in 1997 if Russia gave priority to North or South Korea in military trade, Russian Foreign Minister Primakov responded: “Why should we give priorities? We are prepared to and do cooperate with everybody”. He further added: “It (arms sales) keeps much of our (military) industry afloat, makes payment of wages possible and helps the social spheres".[76]
In October 1998, officers of Khasan Customs Office on the Russian-DPRK border detained five Mi-8T military helicopters that were prepared for a flight to the DPRK. The helicopters were without any weapons and aircraft identification device, and the export document was without any signatures of the Russian government and military authorities.[77] Investigation revealed that Russian military personnel sold each helicopter to a middleman- firm Arden in the Khabarovsk, for 60,000 to 100,000 Rubles at an official military sale at a Moscow auction. Examination of the helicopters also revealed that all the weapons control systems on board remained intact, although they should have been dismantled.[78]
On April 26–28, 2001, North Korean Defense Minister Vice-Marshal Kim Il-chol visited Moscow, a deal on bilateral cooperation in the defense industry and military equipment was signed. During Kim's visit, the two governments also signed a so-called "framework intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the military industry" and a deal between the two defense ministries.
In October 2002, a delegation from the DPRK's Ministry of People's Military, headed by the Deputy Chief of the Ministry of People's Military Lee Men Su, visited the Russian Federation. At the beginning of November that year a delegation from the Korean People's Air Force, headed by its commander Oh Kum Chul, visited Russia.
On August 22–26, 2011, while North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was in Russia's Far East to meet President Medvedev Admiral Konstantin Sidenko commander of the Russia's Eastern Military District visited Pyongyang. According to the press release, the sides discussed the future of cooperation between their Ground Troops, the possibility of conducting joint exercises and training for naval, and also the issue of providing assistance to civilians during natural disasters.
On October 20, 2011 the Korean People's Navy commander of the Sea of Japan fleet visited Vladivostok. Senior Vice Admiral Kim Myong Sik met with senior officials of Russia's Pacific Fleet, in addition to visiting other areas in the vicinity. Kim's meeting focused on finalizing preparations for a visit by a DPRK vessel to visit Vladivostok in November, as well as discussing a joint naval drill between the two countries. In Pyongyang, Oleg Kozhemyako met with DPRK Premier Choe Yong-rim on Wednesday 19 October and attended a dinner with Kim Jong Il.[79]
The nuclear issue
Russia stands firmly behind a peaceful resolution of the crisis, achieved through diplomacy and negotiation. Russia points out that any attempt to coerce North Korea using sanctions and force will not change North Korea's behavior but will only heighten tensions on the Korean peninsula. Moscow holds that the tensions on the Korean peninsula should be resolved through political dialogue and peaceful means.[80]
North Korea has attempted to smuggle Russian nuclear and missile specialists into its country. On December 8, 1992, thirty-six Russian nuclear and missile specialists were detained by Russian security agents at the Moscow Airport shortly before their departure for Pyongyang. These specialists had been hired by North Korea at monthly salaries of $1,500--$3,000 to help North Korean nuclear weapon program.[81]
Differences over the issue of the IAEA inspection of two suspected nuclear waste sites in North Korea led to heightened tensions in Korea and in Northeast Asia in 1993. North Korea announced its plan to withdraw from the NPT in 1993 in defiance of mounting international pressure to fully renounce its nuclear weapons program. The LWRs project between Russia and North Korea discontinued in April 1993, when President Boris Yeltsin signed a presidential decree suspending the project in the midst of heightened tensions following North Korea's announcement to withdraw from the NPT. At the same time, Russia discontinued its nuclear assistance to North Korea, which entailed an abrupt halt to personnel training, supplying of nuclear fuel and exchange of nuclear specialists.[82]
In March 1994 during the first North Korean nuclear crisis, Russia, emphasizing its position as a member of Northeast Asia, proposed the eight-party talks, which included participants from North and South Korea, Russia, the U.S., China, Japan, the IAEA and the UN Secretary General.[83]
Since 2002 Russia and North Korea have participated in the six-party talks. Just as the U.S. excluded Russia from the four-party talks in 1994, the U.S. left out Russia and tried to expand the three-party talks into a five-party talks that included North and South Korea, the U.S., China, and Japan. Because of Russia's active efforts as a moderator, North Korea insisted on Russia's joining the talks, and the U.S. accepted it.[84]
On the second crisis, bursted in 2002 Russia continued to call for a balanced reaction, and the official position on this issue became clear when Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov met with Canadian Maurice Strong, top UN envoy for North Korea, in March 2003. Ivanov emphasized that Russia's proposal for the "package deal" is the only solution to the crisis and insisted that the international community maintain a "cautious and balanced approach". Emphasis was put on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through North Korea's observation of the NPT and acceptance of the IAEA’s inspections, and on peaceful political-diplomatic resolution of the crisis through direct US-North Korean talks rather than on a military approach.[85]
Russia carried out a large-scale military exercise in August 18–27, 2003, that was performed under a state of emergency in the Russia Far East in order to gauge the ability to absorb an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees in case of war.[86]
In October 2006 Russia supported United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 condemning North Korea's nuclear test.
After North Korea detonated another nuclear weapon on 25 May 2009 The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a sharp note of condemnation; The statement called the test a "violation" of previous Security Council resolutions and a "serious blow" to the nuclear nonproliferation regime. It also complained that “the latest DPRK moves are provoking an escalation of tension in Northeast Asia.”[87]
North Korea under the third generation leader Kim Jong Un continues to defy the international community in relation to its nuclear and rocket programme.[88] It has recently advised foreign embassies that the North Korean government could not guarantee their safety in an event of conflict and advise the foreign embassies to reconsider their evacuation plans.[88]
Educational relations
In 1946, a student exchanging program was developed between the two states universities and after two years in 1948 a special school for North Korea dignitaries was established in Moscow where high level NKWP members studied.[89]
During the 2000–2001 academic year, the Russian Ministry of Education allocated 10 state scholarships for North Korea, and in the 2001–2002 academic year, this number jumped to 35. Russian students presently study at the Pyongyang Conservatoire and Pedagogic (Normal) University.
A number of exchange agreements were signed in 2001, including an agreement on scientific cooperation between the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of the DPRK; a contract on cooperation between the Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language and the Pyongyang Institute of Foreign Languages; an agreement on cooperation in the fields of science, technology and education between the Far-Eastern State Technical University and Pyongyang Kim Chaek Polytechnic University; and an agreement between the Moscow State University and Kim Il-Sung University.[90]
In August 2004, in Moscow, the president of the DPRK Academy of Sciences signed a new cooperation agreement with the Russian Academy of Sciences. Both the Ensemble of Folk Dance under Moiseev and the Ensemble of Folk Singing and Dancing of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation visited Pyongyang twice that year, and again, Kim Jong Il attended each performance.
North Korean interest in the study of the Russian language was confirmed by the stunning success of a team of North Korean middle school pupils, who won almost all the prizes at the June 2004 Russian Language International Competition organized by the Pushkin Institute.[90]
References
- ^ Shrivastava, Sanskar. "North Korea Loses Popularity in Russia, Where is the Conflict Heading?". The World Reporter. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ North Korea loses popularity among Russians amid ongoing crisis RT
- ^ 2013 World Service Poll BBC
- ^ Anthony, Ian, “Russian and the Arms Trade”, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 1998, p.151
- ^ The Cold War and Soviet Insecurity By Vojtěch Mastný, American Council of Learned Societies
- ^ “Council of Ministers USSR Resolution of 19 March 1953, No. 858-372cc, Moscow, Kremlin”, in “Cold War International History Project”
- ^ Diary of soviet ambassador V. I. Ivanov from 8 February to 27 March 1956
- ^ Dallin, Alexander ed., "Diversity in International Communism” pp. 388-394
- ^ Ibid, l. 336
- ^ Ibid, l. 342
- ^ Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU 1954–64
- ^ Atomnyi Proekt SSSR: Dokumenty i Materially, Vol. 2, Book 2, 394
- ^ Rodong Sinmun, November 6, 1962.
- ^ Joint Statement of Chairman Liu Shaoqi and President Choi Yong Kun (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1963).
- ^ Rodong Sinmun, September 20, 1963
- ^ Rodong Sinmun, August 12, 1966, editorial, and also Kim's speech to the KWP conference in ibid., 12-15-February, 1966
- ^ Rodong Sinmun, May 6, 1965
- ^ Vorontsov, Alexander. "CURRENT RUSSIA – NORTH KOREA RELATIONS: CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS" (PDF). The Brookings Institution. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
- ^ Yonhap January 28, 1992
- ^ Moscow and Pyongyang agreed to establish the intergovernmental commission for economic and technological-scientific affairs in May 1991 and scheduled its first meeting for October 1992 in Pyongyang. Its first meeting, however, materialized three and a half years later than originally scheduled
- ^ Choson Ilbo, April 12, 1996
- ^ Pyongyang KCNA, December 2, 1996
- ^ Pyongyang KCNA, December 22, 1996
- ^ Pyongyang KCNA, December 26, 1996
- ^ Voice of Russia World Service, May 29, 1996
- ^ Pyongyang KCNA, December 2, 1996, in FBIS-EAS-96-232
- ^ Vladimir Nadashkevich, ITAR-TASS, October 14, 1997
- ^ "Greetings to Kim Jong Il from B. Yeltsin", Pyongyang, September 9, KCNA
- ^ Pyongyang, 13th October, ITAR-TASS
- ^ The hidden people of North Korea: everyday life in the hermit kingdom, Ralph C. Hassig, Kong Dan, p. 53.
- ^ http://www.mid.ru, 6 February 2006.
- ^ RIA Novosti, 5 December 2005.
- ^ http://www.mid.ru, July–December 2005.
- ^ RIA Novosti- Russia makes U-turn, joins UN sanctions against N.Korea
- ^ Asia Times, Russia and the North Korean Knot.
- ^ a b NK Watch, 20.8.2011, KJI Arrives in Siberia
- ^ N.Korea agrees gas pipeline deal and return to nuclear talks, Ulan-Ude, August 24, 2011 RIA Novosti
- ^ "North Korea leader Kim Jong Il meets with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev", Los Angeles Times. August 24, 2011, by John M. Glionna and Khristina Narizhnaya
- ^ RIA Nvosoti, October 19, 2011
- ^ 18/12/2011, 19:45, NK Leadership Watch, "DPRK, Russia Complete Agreement in aerial SAR"
- ^ North Korea's new steps can ease tensions on Korean Peninsula- MP, February 29, 2012
- ^ Russia welcomes North Korea nuclear moratorium pledge, March 1, 2012
- ^ "Kim Jong-Un Congratulates Putin on Polls Victory", RIA Novosti, March 9, 2012.
- ^ Expo for Kim Il Sung's 100th birth anniversary opens in Nakhodka, Itas Tass, April 6, 2012.
- ^ New Russian Ambassador to DPRK Presents Credentials, NK Leadership Watch, May 3, 2012.
- ^ "Russia writes off 90 percent of North Korea's debt". Reuters. CNBC. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
- ^ "N.Korea asks Russia to consider evacuating embassy". Reuters. Reuters. 5 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- ^ "Россия ввела санкции в отношении КНДР". RIA Novosti. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
- ^ "Kim Yong Nam Presses Flesh in Sochi". Daily NK. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
- ^ Anderson, Ewan W. (2003). International Boundaries: A Geopolitical Atlas. Routledge: New York. 10-ISBN 157958375X/13-ISBN 9781579583750; OCLC 54061586
- ^ Jung Kwon-hyun. "Russia-NK Border Repatriation Clause Confirmed", Chosun Ilbo, Seoul, 12/05/99
- ^ China, Russia, N. Korea sign border demarcation deal, Chronology of principal defenceand security-related agreements and initiatives involving the Russian Federation and Asian countries, 1992–99
- ^ Itar Tass, November 4, 1998
- ^ Koo, Min Gyu. (2010). Disputes and Maritime Regime Building in East Asia. Dordrecht: Springer. 10-ISBN 1441962239/13-ISBN 9781441962232; OCLC 626823444
- ^ "На границе России и КНДР российские пограничники несут службу в обычном режиме", Vesti Primorye, May 26, 2009.
- ^ James Moltz, The North Korean Nuclear Program: Security, Strategy and New Perspectives from Russia, 1999
- ^ ITAR-TASS, March 7, 1998
- ^ L.Petrov, "Russia's 'Power Politics' and North Korea" http://www.north-korea.narod.ru/Russia-DPRK_power_politics_English.htm
- ^ Washington Post, August 22, NKorea's Kim may stop at another Russian city to look at oil pipeline
- ^ Yonhap news agency site- Korean Central News Agency
- ^ RIA Novosti, September 1, 2011
- ^ "Russian ambassador to North Korea upbeat on cooperation prospects", Interfax, February 7, 2012.
- ^ Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, North Korea's External Economic Relations
- ^ 'Pyongyang offers slaves in exchange for Russian oil' http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pyongyang-offers-slaves-in-exchange-for-Russian-oil-7651.html
- ^ Korea Times, October 17, 1997, p. 1; Alexei Filatov, "Russia, North Korea Sign Four Economic Accords," ITAR-TASS, October 16, 1997
- ^ Russian, North Korean leaders agree on Soviet debt plan, Ulan-Ude, August 24 RIA Novosti
- ^ a b "North Korea says signed debt deal with Russia". Reuters. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
- ^ "Russia writes off 90 percent of North Korea's debt". Reuters. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
- ^ "Russia resumes cooperation with world's most isolated country". Pravda. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
- ^ "Duma Committee recommended to write off $10 bil a debt of DPRK on the credits of the USSR". ITAR TASS. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
- ^ “North Korea and the Soviet-Japanese Rapprochement,” presented at the Conference on the New East European Evidence on the Cold War in Asia, November 2003, Budapest, Hungary
- ^ Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: from Stalin to Khrushchev, p.193
- ^ North Korea-Relations with China and the Soviet Union FOREIGN MILITARY RELATIONS, Mongabay.com
- ^ D. Ivanov, "Severnaya Koreya okhotitsya za voennymi sekretami", Nezavisimaya Gazeta, January 12, 1994
- ^ Vladimir B. Yakubovsky “Economic Relations between Russia and DPRK,” Korea and World Affairs, Vol. 20, NO. 3, (Fall 1996), p. 462.
- ^ Interfax, July 24, 1997
- ^ The Korea Times, October 8, 1998
- ^ Yevgeniya Lents, ITAR-TASS, October 14, 1998, in FBIS-SOV-98-287; Boris Reznik, “How a Combat Squadron was Stolen,” Izvestia, October 30, 1998
- ^ 27/10/2011, KJI Meets with Le Keqiang, NK Leadership Watch blog
- ^ Moscow Voice of Russia World Service in Korean 1200 GMT 27 July 1999
- ^ KBS-1 Radio network in Korean, December 20, 1992, in FBIS-EAS-92-245, December 21, 1992, p. 32
- ^ Shim Jae Hoon, "Korea: Silent Partner," Far Eastern Economic Review, December 29 & January 5, 1995, p. 14
- ^ Valentin Moiseev, "On the Korean Settlement" International Affairs (Moscow) 43, no. 3 (1997)
- ^ Segyeilbo, June 14, 2003.
- ^ “O vizite v Moskve Spetsial’nogo poslannika General’nogo Sekretaria OON po KNDR M. Stronga,” Press Release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Federation, no. 546-06-03-2003 (March 6, 2003)
- ^ Oleg Zhunusov, and Dmitrii Litovkin, “This Is Legend: A State of Emergency Has Been Introduced,” Izvestiia, August 22, 2003
- ^ "FM: Russia urges DPRK to demonstrate responsibility". People's Daily Online. 2009-05-25. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
- ^ a b JIM HEINTZ and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV (04/05/13). "North Korea Asks Russian Embassy To Consider Evacuation". Huffington Post.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ Lankov, Andrei, “From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea 1945-1960”, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick: New Jersey, 2002, pp 33-40
- ^ a b Current Russia-North Korea relations: Challenges and Achievements
External links
- Russia secretly offered North Korea nuclear technology, by a Special Correspondent in Pyongyang and Michael Hirst, 08/07/2006
- Kim Jong-il's Train Kommersant, June 24, 2006
- North Korea in Russian policy
- "Soviet Union-North Korea Relations," Wilson Center Digital Archive.