Delegations from China and Russia, North Korea‘s main allies in the Korean War, gathered in Pyongyang this week to commemorate North Korea’s “Victory Day” in that conflict, which ravaged the Korean Peninsula seven decades ago, as they also united over Russia’s destructive invasion of Ukraine, another very modern conflict.
On Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu a tour of a defence exhibition in Pyongyang. Images from North Korean media show them passing a variety of weapons, from Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to its newest drones. Shoigu was a key architect of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine.
According to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korean Defence Minister Kang Sun Nam expressed Pyongyang’s full support “for the just struggle of the Russian army and people to defend the sovereignty and security of the country” at a state reception for Shoigu and the Russian delegation in a reference to the conflict in Ukraine.
Shoigu then made his own comments, claiming that the Korean People’s Army (KPA) has “become the strongest army in the world” and promising to continue working together to maintain this status.
Senior North Korean official Kim Song Nam expressed gratitude to Chinese forces for participating in the Korean War on Wednesday at a reception for the delegation led by Politburo member Li Hongzhong, saying North Korea “would not forget forever the heroic feats and merits of the bravery soldiers who recorded a brilliant page in history.”
The attendance of the Chinese and Russian delegations at the armistice anniversary, according to Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “underscores the importance Pyongyang attaches to its relationships with both countries.”
Shoigu’s presence stands out in particular because it demonstrates how close Pyongyang and Moscow have grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, according to Panda.
The Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953 and was one of the first global hostilities of the Cold War era, came to a conclusion on Thursday, marking its 70th anniversary.
In the autumn of 1950, China dispatched a quarter of a million soldiers onto the Korean Peninsula to help its ally North Korea and drive out the combined forces of South Korea, the United States, and other nations fighting under the United Nations Command.
In the Korean War, also known in Beijing as the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, more than 180,000 Chinese soldiers lost their lives.
The Soviet Union, which preceded Russia, also helped North Korea during the conflict by supplying heavy weapons like tanks and providing military assistance by sending Soviet aircraft to engage US fighters.
Despite Pyongyang’s claims of victory, the conflict it started in 1950 ended in a standoff, leaving the demilitarised zone that exists today along the 38th parallel largely where it did before the conflict.
Although a genuine peace agreement has never been signed, the Korean War armistice that was signed on July 27, 1953, put an end to hostilities.
After the war, the US, which served as the focal point of the UN Command that supported South Korea, had a sizable number of soldiers stationed at several army and air sites in the South. The largest US military base abroad is Camp Humphreys, located in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul.
In the meantime, Moscow has consistently supported North Korea throughout the years, particularly given their shared hostility to the West. The same is true of the Chinese Communist Party, particularly under the leadership of Xi Jinping, the country’s current president.
Panda emphasised how Pyongyang’s interests have been upheld before the UN Security Council by both Moscow and Beijing, permanent members of the organisation, as Western nations led by the US have attempted to impose additional sanctions on North Korea.
With regard to Ukraine, a former Soviet state that Russia invaded in February 2022 after declaring it to be historically Russian territory, the three authoritarian nuclear powers are now putting up a united front.
That invasion quickly came to a halt as the Ukrainians mounted a valiant defence of their country and Western powers hurried to transfer arms and ammunition to Kiev as Moscow depleted its own supplies and turned to friends like Iran and North Korea for reinforcements.
Last year, US officials claimed that North Korea was supplying Russia with millions of rockets and artillery shells for use in the conflict in Ukraine.
And as the war in Ukraine enters its 18th month, China, although not giving Russia any arms, has remained solidly in Moscow’s camp, with Xi expanding his connection with Putin and mirroring the Kremlin’s rhetoric on the war.
Following the Wagner mercenary group’s brief mutiny in Russia last month, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared support for the Putin administration.
An online statement read, “China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity as its friendly neighbour and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era.”
The People’s Liberation Army’s English website states that the militaries of China and Russia have been active in the waters off the Korean Peninsula. Their most recent joint exercise, Northern/Interaction-2023, brought together naval and air forces from both nations in drills aiming to “strengthen both sides’ capabilities of jointly safeguarding regional peace and stability and responding to various security challenges.”
The US Navy’s nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarine made its first port call in South Korea in forty years during those manoeuvres in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, which also coincided with military demonstrations by South Korea and the US.
A military parade in the city’s centre was scheduled to take place on Thursday as part of Pyongyang’s commemorations of the armistice. North Korea frequently exhibits its newest weapons at significant points in its history.
The Hwasong-18 ICBM, a solid-fueled, nuclear-capable missile that North Korea claims could target any location in the United States, is one such weapon that could be on show. Two times this year, most recently earlier this month, it has tested the missile.