Russia has strategically grown closer to North Korea as the reclusive, militarized state feuds with its greatest ally, China, over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, a recent analysis has found. But the economic and political importance of China to North Korea may overshadow Moscow’s attempts.
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Kim Jong Un has failed to show the same humbleness toward China as his father, leading to a “personality clash” between the young leader and Xi, according to Chinese foreign policy expert Yun Sun, a senior associate at D.C.-based public policy think tank, the Stimson Center, and a contributor to 38 North. This cold shoulder, even coupled with the recent disagreement, is unlikely to completely reverse decades of ties between China and North Korea, but it does frustrate Beijing’s attempts to bring Kim to the negotiating table with Trump. Yun argued that it’s not so much that Russia has done more for North Korea lately, but that Russia’s relationship has become more significant as China turns up the heat.
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