SEOUL, September 18. /TASS/. The Russia-DPRK summit at the Vostochny Spaceport has strategic and historical significance against the background of the establishment of a multipolar international order, the head of the Center for Chinese Studies at the South Korean Sejong Institute, Chung Jae-heung, has told TASS.
"The latest, historic summit between Russia and North Korea seems to have significant implications for changing the international order," the expert said. He explained that since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, two important trends had emerged in the world and East Asia: the struggle between Western and anti-Western forces and the interconnection of the situation in Ukraine with the problems of the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan.
It is these two circumstances that lent the meeting between [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Spaceport a strategic dimension.
"The US-led countries that support Western domination cannot accept changes toward multipolarity, while at the same time, the forces opposed to Western domination, which account for 80% of the world's population, refuse to accept the West's unilateral [approach] and hegemonism," Chung stated.
Rapprochement by Russia, China, DPRK
Well aware that "the outcome of the situation in Ukraine may have a direct impact on the problems of the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan," and in response to the longstanding US policy Russia, China and the DPRK have developed a rapprochement. The Russian president’s visit to China due in October may accelerate the start of "full-scale trilateral cooperation," the expert believes. China will host the forum of international cooperation One Belt - One Road. Earlier it was reported that a trip of the Russian leader was not ruled out.
Chung believes that Russia, China and the DPRK may hold trilateral naval exercises in the Sea of Japan in response to the Washington-Seoul-Tokyo wargames. In the economic sphere, Chung pointed to the possibilities of cooperation in the Far East-DPRK-Manchuria triangle. These regions, he stressed, have rich natural resources and a great potential, but need development.
In a situation like this, Chung believes, the Republic of Korea should abandon its focus solely on the United States and Japan.
"Seoul should drop the idea of unifying the peninsula by absorbing the North as a result of the latter’s collapse, because this cannot be achieved through trilateral military cooperation with the US and Japan. There should be fundamental foreign policy changes for participation in the new multipolar world," Chung said. He lists South Korea as a pro-Western country.