In their 2014 book North Korea: The Politics of Regime Survival, Young Whan Kihl and Hong Nack Kim noted that “some restricted arm and weapons material have reached North Korea from Russia. . . . Russian companies have been among the suppliers of North Korea’s nuclear program.” Now Putin may be covertly supplying its missile program as well. The key question is why Putin would exacerbate an already crisis-level situation on the Korean peninsula. The answer may be the same as to why Putin has embroiled Russia in Syria: as a way to disrupt and distract the West, especially the...