While Russia Deepens Ties With North Korea, Historic Tensions Are Boiling Up Between Japan and Russia

The New York Times reports that China is pursuing expansions in its nuclear capacity:

China is in the midst of a “significant” expansion of its nuclear capabilities, and headaches have become common in the region’s foreign policy circles.

In the middle of all this there are growing tensions between Japan and South Korea on one hand and China and North Korea in the other:

Officials in South Korea and Japan — North Korea’s avowed enemies — were especially alarmed. Both countries had already been talking about toughening their defenses and growing closer to the United States and each other, particularly since Mr. Kim’s rhetoric has become markedly more hostile toward them in recent months.

According to the Financial Times, “Putin said Moscow might supply high-precision weapons to North Korea in response to advanced western military support for Ukraine.” Both Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense pact, agreeing that each country would defend the other in the case of one of them being invaded or in a state of war. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry warned:

“We will sternly respond to any act threatening our security with the international community, including our allies, after conducting thorough analysis on [Putin’s] visit to North Korea and their comprehensive strategic partnership agreement,” the ministry said.

Putin In Hanoi, Putin dismissed South Korea’s criticism of the defense partnership, stating it would only threaten Seoul if it planned “aggression” against North Korea.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi also expressed himself against the pact between Russia and North Korea, saying Tokyo was “seriously concerned that Russian President Putin did not rule out military technology co-operation with North Korea” in light of “the security environment surrounding our country and region”.

The Chinese are reportedly concerned about the pact between Russia and North Korea because China does not want a war on its front door and does not want to be seen by the West as being a part of this agreement (lets not forget that China is a major business partner with the United States). The concerns are legitimate, given that there are still tensions between Russia and Japan (the two countries never made a peace deal at the end of World War Two), and back in March of 2024, Russia warned Japan about its military buildup near the Russian border. Russia’s new Ambassador to Japan Nikolay Nozdrev stated:

“There is an important point of serious concern that we are closely monitoring – the intensification of military activity near our borders. This is happening, including in bilateral, multilateral formats with the participation, first of all, of the armed forces of the United States of America, as well as some NATO countries and other American allies in the Asia-Pacific region”

In the fall of 2023, Russia protested to the Japanese embassy about major joint Japanese and American military exercises on the island of Hokkaido, close to the Russian border. Russia also expressed its remonstrance about plans to do more exercises in later October to September in 2024. Nozdrev added that relations between Russia and Japan are at their lowest in the post-war era:

“There is an important point of serious concern that we are closely monitoring – the intensification of military activity near our borders. This is happening, including in bilateral, multilateral formats with the participation, first of all, of the armed forces of the United States of America, as well as some NATO countries and other American allies in the Asia-Pacific region”

So is Russia just preparing North Korea for a possible war with South Korea, or is Russia working to strengthen its presence against its historic enemy in the northeast Asian region, Japan? Their animosity doesn’t just go back to WW2, but also to the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905

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