The meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un has generated less concern in South Korea than internationally – and a surprising consensus about China, say Erik Mobrand from Seoul National University and Hyejin Kim from National University of Singapore.
For the conservative paper Donga Ilbo, this friendship between “gangster states” cannot last long. The warm relations are for present convenience,Another report noted general agreement among experts that there was"almost no possibility that, for the sake of the war in Ukraine, Russia selects North Korea and cuts diplomatic ties with South Korea". The trade volume between South Korea and Russia in 2023 stood at 500 times that between North Korea and Russia.
The current conservative government has distanced the country from China, at least in speeches. The tone this week from voices that normally support the Yoon administration is different, calling for more strategic communications with China to remind it that tight partnership between Russia and North Korea could be destabilising in the region.
An interest in maintaining trade relations with Russia has been one basis for this view. Another argument is that this war is not Korea’s: Getting involved can feel like being pushed around by Americans and ceding yet more control over foreign relations.