International
The new Moscow-Pyonyang pact, a headache for the United States and allies… and for Beijing
Moscow and Pyongyang agreed to offer military assistance in case of aggression and paved the way for more defense exchanges, a movement that according to analysts leaves both Beijing, the greatest ally of both countries, and Seoul, Tokyo and Washington, in a complex situation, for which it raises the challenge.
The leaders of Russia and North Korea, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, signed the day before the so-called “Strategic Partnership Agreement,” the new road map for their bilateral relations that replaces previous diplomatic treaties, during the Kremlin president’s first visit to Pyongyang in 24 years.
Mutual military assistance in the face of an eventual attack is the most outstanding novelty of the document, with which Putin and Kim send a warning to the United States and its Asian allies – insisting that they abide by international law – and also redraw regional alliances under the watchful eye of Beijing.
“The pact means a renewal of the Cold War security guarantees considered deceased in 1990, when South Korea and Russia normalized relations,” said the American Victor Cha, former National Security Adser of the White House, through his account in X.
Cha, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, also believes that the agreement will mean “an escalation in military cooperation,” including more supply of North Korean munitions and ballistic missiles for the war in Ukraine, and “a possible proliferation of the shipment of Russian advanced technology to North Korea.”
In addition to the potential impact on the conflict in Ukraine through the shipment of weapons that Washington, Seoul and other Western countries have been denouncing, the United States and its allies will now have to deal with formalized security ties between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Many analysts consider the mutual defense assistance clause precisely as a response to the largest military rapprochement between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo in recent years, including the collaboration of Japan and South Korea with NATO, and believe that it will also have the effect of pushing these three partners and other related countries to shield themselves even more against the Russian-North Korean axis.
“I think this will serve as a pretext to formalize the U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral security relationship in the context of next month’s NATO summit in Washington,” says Cha.
Other experts highlight that the pact signed by Putin and Kim highlights the weaknesses that both countries face under the extensive regime of sanctions that weighs on them, and question how far military assistance could go in the event of conflict.
“There is no credible mechanism or political will to fight for each other or to develop a joint military strategy,” Patrick Cronin, director of Asia-Pacific Security at the Hudson Institute, said in statements to the South Korean agency Yonhap.
“Yes, there is a mute desire to show solidarity in opposition to a world order led by the United States,” Cronin said.
Experts point to the possible influence of Beijing when it comes to seeing the true course of the new pact between Russia and North Korea, traditional Chinese allies and increasingly dependent on the Asian giant.
“It is likely that China is nervous. Pyongyang is prioritizing Moscow over Beijing because Russia seems willing to offer Kim more than China gives her,” says Sydney Seiler, a former U.S. intelligence analyst and currently a CSIS researcher.
Cha, for his part, points out the possibility of an upcoming summit between Xi Jinping and Kim “to balance and align positions,” and also recalls that the Chinese president held his last meeting with the North Korean dictator in June 2019, months after the latter’s failed summit with former US President Donald Trump.
Xi, who also faces increasing pressure from the West for his support for Moscow during the invasion of Ukraine, received Putin in Beijing in May at a summit in which they claimed to open “a new era” of their relations, and according to some information, asked the Russian leader not to travel to Pyongyang immediately after his passage through China.
Beijing for the moment has limited itself to pointing out that Moscow and Pyongyang “have the legitimate need for exchanges, cooperation and development of their relations as close and friendly neighbors,” according to Chinese Chancellor Lin Jian’s spokesman the day before.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
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