The congratulatory telegram from North Korea was delivered to Moscow, giving a new title to the Russian president - Putin has become North Korea's "most beloved comrade-in-arms."

This month, as Russia celebrated its National Day, the leader of North Korea sent a warm congratulatory telegram. The address to Putin became even more intimate, directly calling him the "most beloved comrade-in-arms." It was emphasized that after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Russia and North Korea had formed an "unbreakable, true comrade-in-arms relationship," which is a model of alliance cooperation.

[On Russia Day, the congratulatory telegram from North Korea was handed over to Putin through diplomatic channels.]

North Korea also assured Russia that it would vigorously promote the comprehensive prosperity of the DPRK-Russia relations. It can be seen that in the perception of North Korea, there is still considerable room for growth in DPRK-Russia cooperation, which will not be affected by factors such as the Ukraine crisis or changes in the trilateral situation among the U.S., Russia, and North Korea.

It is worth noting that although every year at this time, the leader of North Korea sends a congratulatory telegram to Putin, the KCNA only publishes the full text without explaining the specific context. However, since last year, the KCNA has made efforts to report everything in detail, first reporting related news, then explaining the channel used to deliver the congratulatory telegram, and finally publishing the detailed content.

In one year, the international community has witnessed the rapid development of Russia-North Korea relations under geopolitical pressure. North Korea has increasingly paid attention to its choice of words. The Russia-North Korea relationship has evolved from being "like close comrades" to becoming "true comrades."

As for the leader of North Korea addressing Putin, each time has a different phrase, from "trustworthy comrade" to the current "most beloved comrade," and in the future, it might be "beyond praise." When the leader of North Korea returns to visit Russia and meets with Putin, he may prepare a "surprise."

In the past, the suffix used by the leader of North Korea when addressing Putin was "Your Excellency," which showed enough respect but still had some distance. In recent years, it has changed to "comrade" and "comrade-in-arms," with various prefixes added.

[In the congratulatory telegram, the leader of North Korea addressed Putin as "most beloved comrade."]

It can be seen that military cooperation is one of the most efficient means of bringing countries closer together.

We know that after the Ukrainian army attacked the Kursk region of Russia, North Korea made a bold decision to send troops to aid, fully implementing the "joint defense clause" of the two countries' strategic agreement.

The subsequent series of events proved that the leader of North Korea made the right move.

The Kursk campaign lasted for several months. The fresh troops from North Korea significantly alleviated Russia's urgent needs, and simultaneously, North Korea's bargaining power in the Russia-North Korea relationship rose accordingly.

Prior assessments by U.S. intelligence agencies said that North Korea is currently in a position of "greatest strategic advantage" in decades. Both sides are well aware of this. North Korea is willing to take advantage of this position to indirectly bargain with Russia.

[Last year, during Putin's visit to North Korea, the Russia-North Korea cooperation flourished.]

In essence, even close brothers must keep accounts straight. Since North Korea has provided manpower and effort for Russia's Kursk campaign, it naturally hopes that Russia reciprocates, rather than "forgetting" its assistance once external conditions improve somewhat. This is not the meaning of a comrade-in-arms relationship between Russia and North Korea.

Russia knows it owes North Korea a huge favor. In terms of defense cooperation, Russia has been quite generous, and diplomatically has given due face. Recently, high-level visits by Russian officials to Pyongyang often begin with a straightforward expression of gratitude for the contributions made by the North Korean army in Kursk.

On the other hand, North Korea subtly expressed that the most pressing task now is to implement last year's strategic agreement and deepen comprehensive exchanges and cooperation. Clearly, it still hopes to see Russia take more concrete actions instead of just saying polite words.

Even though Russia is now busy negotiating with Ukraine and restarting relations with the United States, it cannot afford to neglect Russia-North Korea cooperation.

Many signs indicate that promoting Russia-North Korea cooperation has become the highest priority of North Korea's foreign strategy. Recent reports say that Trump wrote several personal letters to the leader of North Korea, hoping that the North Korean ambassador to the United Nations would deliver them on his behalf. However, they were either rejected or went unanswered.

[Recently, high-level interactions between Russia and North Korea have been very frequent.]

North Korea now shows "undivided attention" in its foreign policy, showing no interest in restarting U.S.-North Korea dialogue. Instead, it focuses on advancing Russia-North Korea relations to the next stage, because this is the current choice that maximizes North Korea's strategic interests.

The leader of North Korea has repeatedly emphasized in the past that developing Russia-North Korea relations is the "top priority" now, and he won't miss any opportunity to demonstrate this determination to Russia.

Last time, when Russia held the "Victory Day" parade in Moscow, although the leader of North Korea did not attend in person, he still created a sense of ceremony in another way.

He personally visited the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang, highlighting the "century-long strategic partnership" between the two countries.

[North Korea hopes that Russia will "reciprocate"]

Last week, Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, visited Pyongyang. The leader of North Korea personally received him and emphasized that North Korea would continue to unconditionally support Russia, not only regarding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine but also concerning Russia's positions and foreign policies on other international hotspots.

However, there are no free lunches in international relations. The前提 for North Korea's unconditional support of Russia is that Russia fully implements all terms of the Russia-North Korea strategic agreement.

Compared to this, how the leader of North Korea addresses Putin is a minor detail in the Russia-North Korea relationship.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7514968958592844303/

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