When dealing with North Korea, it’s important not just to look at what the regime says about its present and future policies. Arguably more important is what the regime doesn’t say. Sometimes we might need to read between the lines.

The two meetings between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin within the space of a year indicate that the pair’s bromance is more than just for show.

Russia’s relations with North Korea look to be on an upward trajectory after the signing of a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’ between Kim and Putin. The mutual defence pact, where each side agreed to assist the other in the event of any external aggression, went far beyond a mere affirmation of ideological solidarity. Only last week, senior North Korean military official, Colonel General Pak Jong Chon, made clear how North Korea would ‘always be together with the Russian army’. Repeating Putin’s own words, Pak threatened a ‘new world war’ with ‘the worst-ever consequences’, including a Russian retaliatory strike, if the United States continues arming Ukraine as part of its ‘confrontational hysteria against Russia.’

It is nothing new to see the North Korean regime invoke the language of war in its rhetoric. Even in 1993, before the country acquired........

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