China's President Xi Jinping (C), North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) arrive for a reception in the Great Hall of the People, following a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, September 3, 2025. File. Photo by Kremlin Press Office/UPI | License Photo
July 6 (Asia Today) -- North Korea is using tacit support from China and Russia to harden its status as a nuclear-armed state, raising pressure on South Korea to rebuild the kind of international sanctions coordination that brought Pyongyang back to negotiations in 2018 and 2019, analysts said Monday.
North Korea has repeatedly stressed the "constant expansion and strengthening" of its nuclear forces and the "thorough exercise" of its status as a nuclear-armed state, signaling that it has no intention of returning to talks premised on denuclearization.
Diplomatic observers in Seoul say North Korea is taking advantage of a turbulent international environment to consolidate its nuclear status.
Russia, which has become a close partner of North Korea since the war in Ukraine, vetoed the renewal of the U.N. panel monitoring sanctions on North Korea in March 2024. At the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in May, Russia also opposed including language on North Korea's nuclear program in a consensus document, according to the report.
