EXPERT COMMENT
North Korea is emerging as Russia’s reserve arsenal – and potentially its reserve army. This deepening partnership has strengthened Pyongyang’s military capabilities and its strategic position in East Asia.
The first road bridge connecting North Korea and Russia opened this week, providing the latest sign of the deepening partnership between the two countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
North Korea’s military partnership with Russia has moved far beyond the transactional arms supply that developed after the invasion. Pyongyang is increasingly becoming an institutionalized part of Moscow’s war-making capacity – supplying ammunition, ballistic missiles and soldiers. In return, the North Korean regime is gaining economic resources, potential military technology, and extensive experience of modern warfare that it would struggle to acquire elsewhere.
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