Tomb stones for N. Korean pilots killed in action.
Posted on 11/22/2014 1:27:20 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
North Korea seeks to forge alliance with Russia: official
November 21, 2014
Kim Jong-un asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to exert influence to help silence international debate on his country’s dismal human rights record, according to a South Korean official.
By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL (Yonhap) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has expressed hope of forging an alliance with Moscow as he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to exert influence to help silence international debate on his country’s dismal human rights record, a South Korean official said Friday.
The rare move represents Pyongyang’s desperate attempts to find a diplomatic exit amid growing international pressure over its human rights situation. A U.N. General Assembly committee has passed a resolution calling for the referral of North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for human rights violations.
Kim expressed hope that “the two countries will establish an alliance” and that “Russia will exert influence to ensure the human rights issue will not be raised at the United Nations and in the international community again,” the official said, citing the gist of a letter to Putin from Kim.
The official said South Korea obtained the gist of the letter delivered to the Russian leader through Kim’s special envoy, Choe Ryong-hae.
Choe met with Putin in Moscow on Tuesday in a trip that underscored Pyongyang’s attempts to reach out to Russia for diplomatic and other support amid strained relations with China.
Cheong Seong-chang, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute, a private security think tank near Seoul, said an alliance, if forged, will be a significant development that will bring about huge changes in the security landscape in Northeast Asia.
“It will rapidly undermine China’s political influence on North Korea while boosting Russia’s influence on the North,” Cheong said.
So far, Beijing is widely believed to have significant leverage over Pyongyang, which has long been dependent on Chinese diplomatic support and economic aid.
Kim expressed hope of quickly holding talks with Putin, according to the South Korean official, who is in a position to know about the gist of Kim’s letter to Putin. Kim has not met with any foreign leaders since 2011, when he took power upon the death of his father and long-time leader Kim Jong-il.
Kim also asked Putin to provide economic aid to North Korea and support North Korea in case the North pursues economic reform. North Korea has so far rejected international calls to embrace reforms.
Kim’s gesture came as the U.N. resolution could potentially pave the way for the referral of North Korea to the International Criminal Court to bring to justice to those responsible for crimes against humanity.
Also Friday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said international support and cooperation is vital to improve North Korea’s human rights conditions, noting that ordinary North Koreans are “facing hunger and a tragic human rights situation.”
She made the comments in a meeting with officials of the International Democrat Union, an international alliance of political parties.
Still, the chances of North Korea being referred to the ICC are slim because U.N. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, and the U.N. Security Council is unlikely to approve the resolution as China and Russia, two veto-wielding powers of the council’s five permanent members, are likely to veto it.
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after meeting Choe in Moscow that the resolution is “counterproductive.”
North Korea has long been labeled one of the worst human rights violators in the world. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds possibly as many as hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.
Pyongyang has bristled at any talk of its human rights conditions, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
P!
I see nothing good coming from this, especially for Kim Jong-un.
Hmmm
The Russians do not see North Korea as a reliable partner.
Its quick to take Russian money but not Russian advice.
The problem is the Communist regime does not intend reform itself out of power.
It can only go so far and that is what makes the North an unalluring prospect for foreign investors.
unless you can change the management
It’s time for North Korea to disband...that is a miserable place - where only the top tier live out their lies...and they know it...Putin being Putin - may get in there and wipe out that top tier and place someone he trusts to run that area...establishing manufacturing and other industries that make this regime look obsolete.
Why the world gives to this dictator is beyond me...let them starve it out...when the army and security forces have nothing...they coup d’etat this idiot and move on...Putin may actually go a better job in bringing in imperialism - rather than socialism where we ALL know that doesn’t work...the US as the latest example with Barry and his Boyz!
Didn’t Russian pilots fly combat missions for North Korea in the Korean War?
Birds of a feather....
In turn, N. Korean pilots flew combat missions in Vietnam. Against U.S. Air Force.
Tomb stones for N. Korean pilots killed in action.
Wonder what China has to say about that...
Pooty’s fan club ?
Well, a lot of Putinista posters here keep telling us that Putin is a great Christian, so this will be just more evidence to their way of thinking, no doubt.
Anyway, let Putin veto UN Resolution against Kim Jong-un. Would make a great PR for Russia.:-) China will join because she has that dark cloud from the past hanging over her head: running tanks over protesting students in Tienanmen Square in '89. It will be dredged up if China would approve the resolution.
Even so, countries are beginning to take sides for the upcoming WWIII that our usurper so desperately wants.
Kind of like the United States voting against a UN resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism and the denial of Nazi war crimes huh?
Pot meet kettle.
you get the feeling Chia Chub has man crush on Vlady???
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