Putin’s Defense Pact With Kim Jong Un Alarms US and Allies
- North Korea and Russia reached a mutual defense deal
- South Korea is now considering sending arms to Ukraine
Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang in a photo released by Russian state media, on June 19.
Photographer: Gavriil Grigorov/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Asia won him support to maintain his grinding war on Ukraine while alarming the US and allies such as South Korea, which is now considering supplying Kyiv with weapons that could change the battlefield.
Putin returned to Russia after visits to North Korea and Vietnam that resulted in a military pact with Pyongyang that bound the two US adversaries even closer and raised the risks of military action on the Korean Peninsula.