Russia, North Korea Commit to Deepening Relations

Facts

In a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Mon., Russian Pres. Putin promised the two countries would expand their cooperation despite being isolated on the world stage.
Putin's letter said that closer ties would be in the interests of both countries and would help strengthen the security and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all of northeast Asia.
Coming on Korea Liberation Day, a celebration of the World War II defeat of Japan with Soviet help, Kim responded, saying that the two nations' friendship had reached a new level in their effort to frustrate threats from hostile militaries.
The nations share a small border and are also the most sanctioned economies in the world. N. Korea faces 2,077 sanctions and Russia has faced 5,532 since March.
Kim predicted growing cooperation after signing an agreement with Russia in 2019, which then became reality after he recognized the Russian-backed self-proclaimed People's Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine's Donbass region in July.
The news comes as Russia has also been working to strengthen ties with non-Western aligned countries such as India, China, and Brazil.

Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Tribune. Just as the US pushed North Korea toward China during the Korean war, it is now pushing Russia into the arms of North Korea, China, and others today. This is nothing new, and the West still hasn't accepted that liberal democracies don't and won't have sole geopolitical control of the world order.
Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Bloomberg. In relationships stretching back decades, Russia, China, and North Korea have long supported each other's shared rejection of Western democracy, and this announcement is nothing new. If Russia continues to ignore the rules-based global order and strengthen military ties with countries like North Korea and China, the US could be facing deep instability in two theaters.