The military alliance between Russia and North Korea began the formation of a military alliance between the Eastern powers and the West.
Author: Abdul Naser Noorzad, Security and Geopolitics Researcher, specially for Sangar
The school of realism is a noteworthy approach due to its closeness to the activities of politicians and the traditional understanding of international politics. In this school, there are components such as an anarchic international system, constant conflict in this system, governments as rational players, governments as major players, a constant concern of governments for self-preservation and survival, and balancing strategies in the form of alliances and coalitions, which are the usual ways of studying this school. In this article, we will make a brief overview based on the available documents on how the alliance of the Russian Federation and North Korea was formed.
Although the war in Ukraine has been going on for three years, on the one hand, it leads to a military stalemate in its complete outcome, and on the other hand, this war is gaining more and more global proportions every day. The formation of alliances and military coalitions on both sides of the conflict has raised serious concerns about the expansion of the scale of this war, undermining the international order and security. Many even talk about the beginning of World War III. Because the power of nuclear deterrence, the use of missile power and non-motorized weapons, as well as the efforts of the parties to overcome each other, lead to a change in the actual form of this war from a war between states to an international war.
Of course, the role of Iran, China, and North Korea in strengthening Russia's position over the past three years has forced Ukraine to confront Russia with the broad and unwavering support of Europe, the US, and its other allies.
At first, the calculation was that Russia's entry into the Ukrainian war as a limited military operation would complete the cause of Ukraine and lead to the neutralization of the doctrine of NATO expansion to the east, but with the passage of time and the creation of serious obstacles in the advance of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory, this miscalculation turned out to be incorrect.
It is here that both Moscow and Kyiv have become part of military alliances using the existing international space. By deepening trade, economic, political, and military relations with Beijing, Pyongyang, and Tehran, Moscow has created a new unifying axis called the CRINKs (China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea). Tehran’s arms aid, especially suicide drones, support, and deployment of Pyongyang troops to bolster Russia’s position in Ukraine, as well as international support for the Chinese both in the UN Security Council and the pumping of money and purchase of Russian gas and oil, have made Moscow bolder and more fearless in continuing this war.
But the deployment of North Korean troops is a new chapter in this terrible battle. Despite their geographical proximity, North Korea and Russia have long-standing historical relations. Both countries face the most severe sanctions. Both are enemies of the West’s megalomania led by the United States and are making endless efforts to resist heavy Western sanctions. However, the recent transformation in the relations between the two countries reveals the true meaning of the alliance in the realist approach, which is based on the existence of threats, as well as the common enemy and the power of both countries.
The alliance has different interpretations in different schools of realism and idealism. The idealist and liberalist approach to alliances concerns the cultural commonality of states, the ideological aspects of the alliance, and economic issues. This approach assesses the role of ideology in forming alliances as very important. On the other hand, the realist approach to studying alliances focuses on the power of countries and external threats.
The news of North Korean troops being sent to Ukraine to take the battlefield in Russia's interests shows that Moscow and Pyongyang want to strengthen the alliance's foundations to eliminate common security and political threats. They also pay special attention to creating a defensive shield against the West and the United States by uniting Asian countries.
Sources estimate the number of these forces at about twelve thousand soldiers, and both countries have in mind the strategic goals of their actions in this matter. By sending North Korean troops, Russia wants to reduce the burden of the war in terms of human resources on the one hand and to turn this war into a multinational war in the form of a military alliance on the other hand. Similarly, the United States, Europe, and other countries have strengthened the defensive positions of Ukraine in support of the Ukrainian front. For this reason, the entry of North Korean forces into the Ukrainian war can be seen as an important event in the field of global security and Russian military strategy.
This move not only demonstrates closer cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang but also signifies many of Russia's goals. On the other hand, North Korea also entered the war to advance its interests and goals, and both countries are trying to achieve them by pursuing strategic goals. To strengthen human resources, test Ukraine's military potential, demonstrate alliance with North Korea, influence the balance of world power, and use non-motorized tactics, Russia seeks to radically change the course of the war. North Korea's goals can be assessed as strengthening relations with Russia, acquiring military technology, using the crisis to strengthen domestic power, and violating sanctions.
In this regard, North Korea's participation in the Ukrainian war can increase tensions at the global level and complicate relations between this country and Europe. This action can be considered as a declaration of war not only on Ukraine but also on Western countries. The formation of such an alliance, considered unprecedented in the current situation, demonstrates the true meaning of a military alliance between the governments of the two countries.
The creation of such an organization that focuses on strengthening the positions of both sides, eliminating common security and political threats, bypassing sanctions, and sending a kind of message to the common enemies of both countries shows that the era of realism has returned in the form of alliances and coalitions to change the path of transformation in the international system.
On the other hand, Washington has turned a new page in this era of alliance by sending Ukraine permission to use ATACMS missiles. This authorized delivery to Ukraine can be seen as a response to the deployment of North Korean forces in the war in Ukraine and the strengthening of deterrence shields to counter threats that worry the West and the United States in their calculations.
Realism, which views alliances based on the existence of common threats and the power of countries, forces us to resort to hardware solutions to combat threats. Ukraine is an arena of competition among countries of the world to create a deterrent power and a defensive wall, which forces these powers, with a huge military buildup, on the one hand, to monitor the outcome of this competition, and on the other hand, their military power and actions in a possible war scenario have put the third world to the test.
The alliance between Russia and North Korea is the birth of such a security thinking that places both a single axis on the same front with a common enemy. The era of governments that must act rationally in an attempt to preserve their survival, the existence of an anarchist international system, and the continuous nature of conflicts within it, in the form of alliances and coalitions to create balance, is the basic diagram of this thinking.
This is where the statements about the military alliance between Russia and North Korea make us think about the form of realism and its dominance over global and security politics in the international system. Russia and the CRINK axis, which is the anti-American axis, have endless wars ahead and must bear incalculable costs to maintain their position, which is the product of two decades of American hegemony.
On the other hand, the West of Ukraine is seen as the first and strongest fortress against this Eastern thinking. The old alliance between Europe and the United States is also a security thinking against the excesses of the East. Therefore, it can be said that the alliance and coalition to create balance and fight against the ever-growing security threats in the world is a common approach based on the approach of realism, which is being addressed by the warring governments of the East and the West.
