Kim Jong-un displays all his weapons capabilities during Sergei Shoigu's visit

The West has repeatedly singled out Pyongyang for providing Moscow with illegally and covertly procured military supplies, and North Korea has been one of the few nations to publicly declare its support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defence Minister, met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the second time and delivered a speech in which he thanked Kim for his country's "unwavering support" for the invasion of Ukraine. 

Russia is a staunch ally of North Korea. The US says Kim Jong-un's leadership has given arms to Moscow and has consistently supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry said the visit "will contribute to strengthening ties between the Russian and North Korean militaries and will be an important stage in the development of cooperation between the two countries". 

The two met at the Workers' Party headquarters in the North Korean capital to discuss "important issues of mutual interest", North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported. Earlier, they had gone together to a North Korean arms exhibition. 

According to the KCNA report, Kim and Shoigu expressed their desire for "further development of collaboration and strategic and tactical cooperation between the two countries in the field of defence and security" during their meeting. Kim also shared Pyongyang's position "on the changing security environment and the military and political situation on the Korean peninsula". 

Kim Jong-un's regime invited a delegation from China, led by Chinese Communist Party member Li Hongzhong, and one from Russia, led by Shoigu, to commemorate the end of the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, on its 70th anniversary. 

The first group of foreigners to enter the nation since the start of the pandemic are Russians and Chinese. The gesture highlights not only Pyongyang's strong rapprochement with Moscow and Beijing, but also suggests Pyongyang may relax the strict border controls it implemented in 2020 to stop the spread of the coronavirus. 

North Korea displays drones for first time 

On the stage set up in Pyongyang's central Kim Il-sung Square in front of the Grand Palace, Kim presided over the event on Thursday with Shoigu on his right and Li Hongzhong, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on his left.  

According to photographs released by the KCNA news agency and the state television channel KCTV, while rows of soldiers, armoured vehicles and shells of all kinds were present, military salutes and solemn faces alternated with laughter and complicit gestures between the three on the rostrum. On display were the Hwasong-17, the regime's longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile, and the even more advanced Hwasong-18, which uses solid fuel and conducted its second test on 12 July near Pyongyang. 

Also on display were some of its recent assets not previously on display at the capital's increasingly frequent military parades: drones. 

Una de estas novedades fue el dron submarino One such novelty was the underwater drone known as Haeil, which Pyongyang claims is capable of producing radioactive tsunamis in the same way as the Russian Poseidon. It was tested last spring. Also on display was one of the newly created drones, with an appearance reminiscent of the American Reaper, well known for being used to destroy targets in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, when Kim brought this arsenal to an exhibition in the North Korean capital, Shoigu had already seen it. 

Alarming amparo between China, Russia and North Korea 

The image left by the parade and, more broadly, the presence of the delegations led by Shoigu and Li, is one of unity between Pyongyang, Moscow and Beijing at a time of increasing polarisation in the context of the conflict in Ukraine, as well as in Northeast Asia, where Washington is also making an increasingly assertive effort to ally itself with Seoul and Tokyo. 

It is also important to note that this was the first time that delegations from China or Russia, which had been invited by Pyongyang to one of these military parades, had seen so much North Korean weaponry with nuclear potential on display. This shows an unprecedented level of support for the development of North Korean weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, both Moscow and Beijing are currently refusing to impose sanctions on the North Korean regime for its weapons testing, which is further encouraging North Korea's military development. 

A Kim who, with the introduction of these new drones, can now cross one more item off the list of new weapons to be developed that was included in the military modernisation plan approved in 2021 and which has fewer and fewer pieces left to complete. To address the need for "further development of strategic and tactical collaboration and cooperation between the two countries in the field of defence and security," the North Korean leader met with Shoigu for the second time on Thursday, according to KCNA, as the West continues to accuse Pyongyang of illegally and covertly supplying military equipment to Moscow. 

The Russian Defence Ministry, meanwhile, used a conference also held in Pyongyang on Thursday to announce that President Vladimir Putin had praised "the unwavering support of the DPRK (the country's official name) to (Russia's) army in Ukraine”.