Washington Post: Kim has become an ally of Putin and is not the leader of 6 years ago

According to Isna, the American media in an article referring to the change in the behavior of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in recent years reported that he has become much more reckless than before and has gained a lot of confidence in the world arena.

According to the Washington Post, Kim Jong-un, who closed his country’s borders in 2020 due to the spread of the Corona virus, has now returned to the world stage with a series of bold actions. Kim has abandoned North Korea’s long-held goal of reunification with South Korea, and his recent actions indicate that he supports a new world order to replace the current Western-dominated world order.

According to the report, Kim now appears more confident than ever, having acquired advanced nuclear capabilities and forged a new alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“This means President-elect Donald Trump, who had a close relationship with Kim during his first term and says the North Korean leader misses him, will face a much bolder counterpart in Pyongyang in his second term,” the report said. »

“Rachel Min-yong Lee”, an American expert on North Korean state media, said that Kim Jong-un’s boldness has increased, pointing to “a clear change” in the way Pyongyang’s role is presented to the world, and said: “In my opinion, North Korea is now itself sees him as a bigger actor than before.”

He, who came to power in 2011 at the age of 27, is no longer the young man who relies on his grandfather’s legacy to prove himself. Kim is now a seasoned leader and can play a role in the Ukraine conflict that has embroiled the world’s superpowers.

Ken Goss, a leading expert on the North Korean leader, said: “He doesn’t need all the publicity that linked him to his grandfather anymore and is now a character on his own.”

America is no longer a priority

Trump, who will begin his second term in office in mid-January next year, threatened during his first term to rain down “fire and fury” on Kim if he threatened the United States. However, he later changed his stance and developed a friendly relationship with the North Korean leader that he likened to a “love”. But talks between Pyongyang and Washington broke down in 2019, and Kim has not interacted with Washington since Trump left power.

According to the Washington Post, Trump may try to revive that relationship in his second term; But some experts say the North Korean leader may not be as eager to engage as he was six years ago, especially as he has distanced his country’s foreign policy from Washington.

Sidney Seiler, the former senior US intelligence officer for North Korea, who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, believes that the nature of the relationship between Trump and Kim was never the love and friendship that Trump spoke of, but a negotiating tactic. It was from Trump and an attempt at domestic propaganda from Kim.

This analyst says: “Kim now has Putin at his disposal. Why should he turn to Trump?”

Survival in Corona

According to the Washington Post, it has always been difficult to get accurate information from North Korea, and it has become even more difficult with the increasing isolation of this country after Corona, but one certain fact is that Kim Jong Un is still in power and this youngest nuclear leader in the world is now bolder than Any other time works.

The leader of North Korea was able to survive the corona epidemic in his country. For North Korea, which was dependent on its trade relations with China and did not have a coherent health and sanitation system, this epidemic was considered an existential threat. However, he risked economic collapse and closed the borders to prevent the virus from entering his country.

According to the Washington Post, North Korea reverted to its old ideology of “self-reliance” and tried to be a self-sufficient country. In a speech in 2022, Kim said, “We must continue to consider the ideological and moral strength of the masses as the most important weapon and mobilize it in every possible way.”

The American media claimed that Kim Jong Un used the closed space during the Corona era to consolidate his position in power and consolidate his dominance over power. However, the closure of the borders had devastating economic consequences for the country.

According to this report, Kim Jong Un’s actions during the Corona era showed that he feels secure about his position in power. “He kept the borders closed, which means that although the situation was bad, it was not unmanageable,” said Minyoung Lee, an expert on North Korea’s state media. I think all this gave Kim Jong Un a lot of confidence.”

Pursuing independent policies

By the end of 2023, North Korea gradually ended the blockade of the border, and it was at this point that Kim Jong-un indicated that he was pursuing his own independent political agenda. For example, he has named his teenage daughter as the first potential female heir in North Korea, while North Korean society values ​​men and the elderly more.

Then, on January 1, he officially abandoned the idea of ​​a peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula, abandoning a fundamental political position established by his grandfather and reinforced during his father’s tenure; An action that showed his extreme distance from the policy of his predecessors.

According to the Washington Post, Kim began removing and destroying symbols of reunification, including monuments and roads connecting the two Koreas, to emphasize this change of direction.

On the birthday of North Korea’s founder in April, which used to be the most important day on the country’s calendar, North Korean television made it seem less important than in previous years. A little later, a video titled “Kind Father” was released on television, and in it, the title that was always used to refer to Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, this time was used to describe him personally.

Also, in a breaking tradition, Kim has put his pictures on the walls of the buildings next to the pictures of his father and grandfather and placed himself literally on their level.

According to the Washington Post, these are examples of the North Korean leader’s attempt to present an independent personality. “He (Kim) knows that focusing too much on his grandfather’s legacy will dilute his own,” said Yang Mo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Proximity to Russia

Analysts who monitor North Korean affairs agree that Kim’s growing cooperation with Putin has taken the North Korean leader’s boldness to a whole new level.

In March 2022, a month after the start of the war in Ukraine, North Korea was one of five countries to oppose a UN resolution condemning Russia, and by doing so, Kim made it clear that he stood by Putin. According to American media, this crucial decision was fruitful because it made North Korea and its old Soviet-era weapons important again on the world stage.

After a ceasefire in the Korean War in the 1950s, North Korea kept the weapons it received from the Soviet Union to use in the event of a resumption of war. Now, with the prolongation of the war in Ukraine, Russia has demanded to receive these ammunitions and weapons. The Washington Post also claimed that in an unprecedented move, North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia and are fighting for this country, which, according to the American media, has earned Pyongyang a lot of money.

American officials also claim that North Korea may receive the vital technologies it needs to expand its weapons program in exchange for its arms and military support from Russia.

Mutual defense treaty with Russia

Kim visited Russia last year, and this was his first international trip since the beginning of the Corona pandemic. There he declared his full support for Russia’s stance on the Ukraine war, and Putin agreed to help Kim with space technology. This year, these two leaders met again, but this time in Pyongyang. During Putin’s visit to North Korea this year, they signed a mutual defense pact and pledged to help each other in the event of a military attack.

Scott Snyder, president of the Korea-US Economic Institute, told The Washington Post that a warm relationship with Moscow is important for North Korea because it allows Kim to reduce his dependence on Beijing.

In addition, Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto power, does not allow the imposition of new sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear and weapons programs.

All in all, leaving behind the experience of Corona and the growing closeness of the North Korean leader to Russia has made his courage and self-confidence to lead his people even greater.

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