Cracks in the New ‘Axis of Evil’: China, Russia, North Korea, Iran by Lawrence A. Franklin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21163/china-russia-north-korea-fracture

The Russia-North Korea-China relationship is not an equilateral triangle but an evolving alliance with conflicting interests, and reportedly beginning to show signs of fracture and lack of trust.

One report suggests that, ultimately, North Korea may dispatch 100,000 troops to Russia.

China nevertheless views Russia as principally a source of oil and raw materials. The Kremlin might hope to rejuvenate itself by re-asserting its failing primacy in Central Asia amidst the independent post-Soviet countries.

The Russia-North Korea-China relationship is not an equilateral triangle but an evolving alliance with conflicting interests, and reportedly beginning to show signs of fracture and lack of trust.

Now that North Korean troops have joined Russian forces in fighting a democratic country, Ukraine, the global ramifications of this East-West coalitional warfare have darkened. An alliance of aggressive dictatorships are directly confronting the free West.

Western intelligence agencies have reported that North Korea has deployed about 3,000 troops in the Kursk region of Russia, now occupied by Ukraine. North Korea has reportedly dispatched an additional 7,000 troops to Russia.

The deployment of these North Korean troops is supposedly justified by Moscow and Pyongyang through the joint Russia-North Korea Defense Treaty, signed on June 19, 2024 and ratified this month, stipulating that each signatory will come to the military assistance of the other if under attack by a third country.

The increased military-to-military links between North Korea and Russia also have regional ramifications, and China appears to have indicated to Moscow that the once heralded Sino-Russian “No Limits Alliance” may have some limits, after all.