North Korea has a widening Russian loophole

One sign came at the UN Security Council early this month, where Russia thwarted adoption of a new resolution against the North’s latest claimed launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. 
Russia, one of the security council’s five permanent members, was more outspoken in opposing punishment of North Korea than China, whose participation in UN-led sanctions against the North had strained their bilateral ties. 
Russia’s envoy to the UN insisted that the missile North Korea launched on July 3 was of intermediate range rather than intercontinental. Russia’s deputy foreign minister also said this week that Moscow opposes sanctions that seek economic isolation of North Korea. Moscow particularly objects to banning oil exports to North Korea and prohibiting its citizens from working overseas.
Gennady Gatilov also insisted the humanitarian problems faced by millions of North Koreans should be considered. 
The close bond between Russia and North Korea is supported by trade figures. According to the Korea Trade-investment Promotion Agency in Seoul, Russian exports to North Korea in the first five months of this year stood at $48 million, almost double the amount in the same period last year. 
A bigger cause for concern is that about 90 per cent of Russian exports to North Korea are of oil and minerals. Russian exports of oil to North Korea were worth $2.3 million in the first four months of this year, compared with $740,000 a year ago, the Voice of America reports. 
This could undermine moves by the US and other members of the international community to prevent exports of crude oil and petrochemical products to North Korea. On Tuesday the US House of Representatives passed a bill that bans oil exports to North Korea, employment of North Korean workers, passage of North Korean ships and online transactions of North Korean goods. 
In other words, Russia could be a new loophole, following the one already made by China, in the international sanctions aimed at pressuring Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile ambitions and come to the negotiation table. 
Besides boosting trade of strategic materials like oil, there are more signs that Russia and North Korea are forging closer ties at a time when Pyongyang’s relations with Beijing have soured. 
In May, a Pyongyang-run ferry service was launched between the North Korean port of Rajin and Russia’s Vladivostok.  
Russia has also made clear its intention to challenge China for patronage of the North by providing it with “humanitarian aid”. Voice of America reports that about 2,400 tonnes of Russian flour – part of 5,200 tonnes Moscow has committed – arrived in North Korea last week. 
That adds more to the 4,900 tonnes of flour Russia had already provided to North Korea through the World Food Programme this year. VOA said a Facebook posting by the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang also mentioned Moscow’s plan to donate an additional 2,700 tonnes of flour to the North. 
All these developments show that Russia is emerging as a major patron of North Korea as the rest of the international community pressures traditional patron China to either convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions or cut the lifeline it provides to the North. 
Obviously, a closer relationship between Russia and North Korea benefits both. Russia can increase its geopolitical clout in the region and have more leverage in its dealings with China and the US. For its part, North Korea has someone to lean on besides China. 
That poses challenges to all the other players in the region, including South Korea and the US. The most pressing challenge for the international community now is to keep Moscow from creating a bigger loophole in the coordinated sanctions against North Korea.