Existential concerns behind North Korea’s participation in the Ukraine war

Swedish strategic analyst, Jacob Hallgren, believes that since its emergence in the first half of the 1950s, North Korea has had a long history of aggressive practices and a great reputation for extremist military rhetoric, and despite this, its actual military movements have remained under the leadership of the current president, Kim Jong-un. On, within its borders for a long period, while exercising some degree of restraint, so Pyongyang’s sending about 12,000 soldiers to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine is a new and dangerous development.

In an analysis published by the American magazine “National Interest,” Hallgren, a former Swedish diplomat and director of the Swedish Institute for International Affairs, wonders what prompted North Korea to take this step, which he described as “extremist.”

Hallgren, who served as Sweden’s ambassador to North Korea from 2018 to 2021, says that some point to North Korea’s urgent need for humanitarian aid, oil, natural gas and air defense missiles, in addition to the need to gain real combat experience as reasons for the Kim Jong Un government’s decision to send his country’s forces. For war in Ukraine.

Although these reasons are important, one must look at the long history of Russian-North Korean relations and delve into their psychological dimension, to reach a full understanding of the justifications for North Korea taking this step now. Kim Il Sung, the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, was He was trained in Russia, and after repeated requests he received the green light from the former Soviet Union leader.

Joseph Stalin invaded the southern part of the Korean Peninsula in June 1950, erupting the Korean War that ended with the division of the peninsula into two countries.

Hallgren, former deputy director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, adds that Kim Jong Un knows the history of his family, and that the Soviet Union was the one who created the state that he heads in the beginning. He may also have studied his grandfather’s experience when he sided with the Soviet Union against China, in exchange for obtaining… On Soviet support and aid.

After the start of the Russian war on Ukraine in 2022, Kim Jong Un found himself in a great geopolitical place, as happened with his grandfather earlier, and after 30 years of uncomfortable dependence on China, sanctioned Russia remembered its close connection to North Korea, which had been waiting… Taking advantage of the revival of the alliance with Russia, however, the exact real reason behind Kim Jong Un’s decision to send his forces to Ukraine to fight alongside Russian forces will remain the subject of speculation for a long time.

However, this decision is linked to the incentives referred to by Hallgren, whether linked to economic aid or the transfer of advanced technology, including Russian support for the development of North Korea’s nuclear program.

But these things are not new, so the reason for the deployment of North Korean forces in Ukraine is likely deeper, and related to a growing feeling in Pyongyang that it faces an existential threat from the United States and its allies in the region, which is extremely dangerous and could threaten much worse consequences.