Page 178 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

of Victory Day in North Korea) on July 27, 2023 as well as
the Kim-Putin summit held at the Vostochny Cosmodrome
space center in Amur Oblast, Russia on September 13,
2023. In May 2019, Kim Jong-Un had his first summit with
President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, Russia. The summit
occurred approximately three months after the breakdown
of the Feb. 27-28, 2019 North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi.
During the 2019 North Korea-Russia summit, considerable
attention was given to whether Kim Jong-Un would be able
to secure economic support from Putin. However, President
Putin merely emphasized the necessity of easing sanctions
against the North and committed to bilateral cooperation at
a fundamental level. The Russia-Ukraine war emerged as a
new factor in the Kim-Putin summit of 2023. Additionally,
there was keen interest in the outcome due to implications
regarding prospects for alignment among the grouping of
South Korea-U.S.-Japan versus North Korea-China-Russia
in Northeast Asia.

China’s strategic concerns regarding the
North Korea-China-Russia partnership

As the strategic competition between the U.S. and China
intensifies, particularly in Northeast Asia where the U.S.-
Korea and U.S.-Japan alliance and trilateral cooperation is
strengthening, China perceives the need to enhance strategic
cooperation with Russia and North Korea to a certain
extent. From China’s perspective, strengthening strategic
cooperation with Russia and North Korea serves as a means

178 Section III : South Korea-Japan-U.S. Cooperation: How to Deter Pyongyang and Dissuade Beijing