Stephen Cho | Coordinator of the Korean International Forum
The move to form an “Asian version of NATO” is perilous, as it could be a decisive step towards war in East Asia, where military tensions are already rising sharply.
Russia’s special military operation in 2022 was launched in response to the Maidan coup in 2014 and the subsequent eight-year massacre in Donbas, as well as Ukraine’s push to join NATO. President of “the Republic of Korea (ROK),” Yoon Suk-yeol, and Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, are attending three consecutive NATO summits in Madrid in 2022, Vilnius in 2023, and Washington in 2024.
This shows the imperialist camp’s new strategy to conquer the world in order to realize the “Indo-Pacificization of NATO,” i.e., to form an Asian version of NATO by promoting the “AUKUS” and “Quad” groupings. It confirms the essence of the Obama administration’s “Pivot to Asia” policy and the Biden administration’s “Indo-Pacific strategy.“
This also shows that the imperialist camp has established and is carrying out a new hegemonic strategy according to which it strengthens and expands NATO to use it as a tool for dominating the world, since Russia and China have resolutely opposed the diktat and hegemonic policies of the US and imperialist camp in the UN Security Council, such as the sanctions against the DPRK. It reflects imperialism’s weakness, not its strength.
The imperialist camp has long been planning for the “New Cold War” structure and the fundamental way to realize it is with the ongoing World War 3.
While the “Cold War” began after World War 2 when the socialist camp expanded globally and the imperialist camp, fearing this, declared “Trumanism” and implemented the “Marshall Policy,” the “New Cold War” began with World War 3 and will enter full swing after the end of World War 3.
The “Cold War” and the “New Cold War” are all confrontational wars between anti-imperialist and imperialist camps. However the difference is that the leading and auxiliary forces in the former are the socialist and national liberation forces, respectively, while in the latter, the socialist DPRK and China, the former socialist Russia are leading forces and other world anti-imperialist forces, including the “Axis of Resistance,” like Iran, are auxiliary forces.
Also, in the “Cold War,” the imperialist camp locally waged “hot wars” against small socialist or national liberation countries, while in the “New Cold War,” the imperialist camp is trying to wage “hot wars” against socialist or former socialist powerful countries. However, for fear of mutually assured destruction (MAD), it strictly uses proxy warfare.
The most important feature of the “New Cold War” is that the DPRK, the most steadfast socialist country, has joined the ranks of the nuclear and missile superpowers, occupying a key position and playing an important role in the anti-imperialist camp. It is also important that China and Russia, which have traditionally had bad relations, are united in the anti-imperialist camp. It is also noteworthy that the “Axis of Resistance,” including Iran, has joined the anti-imperialist camp with 2 billion Muslims.
With these features in the forces, plus the noble cause of anti-fascism, liberation, and reunification, the anti-imperialist camp is overwhelming the imperialist camp.
The imperialist camp’s war-provocative strategies threatening with expeditionary, proxy, and mixed wars are also out of their element owing to the anti-imperialist camp’s strategy and tactics of not getting involved in the war as much as possible to build up its pretexts for war but to confront it fiercely, directly, and all-out once the war breaks out. It is no coincidence that NATO and other imperialist forces are being pushed back in Ukraine and that zionism is being cornered in West Asia (Middle East).
The current world situation can be summarized in one sentence: “The flames of World War 3, instigated by imperialism, are spreading from Eastern Europe to West Asia and traveling toward Eastern Asia.”
The war in Ukraine began with the Maidan coup d’état in 2014, intensified with the eight-year civil war in Donbas, and entered full swing with Russia’s special military operation in 2022.
The war in Ukraine is an anti-imperialist, antifascist war in which Russia fights against NATO imperialism and Zelensky’s fascist forces, a liberation war to liberate the Ukrainian people, including ethnic Russians, and a preventive war to prevent an invasion of Russia, which is the final objective of NATO’s eastward policy.
The root of the war in West Asia is the emergence of zionist Israel in 1948. As a response to its blatant provocations, this war began with the Palestinian “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation in 2023, intensified with the joining of Hezbollah and Ansar Allah (Houthi) forces, and entered full swing with Iran’s operation “True Promise” in 2024.
The war in West Asia is an anti-imperialist, anti-zionist war against imperialism and zionism, and a liberation war to liberate the Palestinian people.
It is true that the war in Ukraine influenced the outbreak of the war in West Asia, and the war in Ukraine and the war in West Asia are triggering the outbreak of the war in East Asia.
The war in Taiwan, one of the two pillars of the war in East Asia, is an anti-imperialist war in which China and Taiwanese people confront imperialism, a national liberation war to liberate Taiwan, which is one nation with China, and a national reunification war in which China and Taiwan, which are the same nation, become one; the other pillar, the war in the “ROK”, is an antifascist anti-imperialist war to liquidate the fascist and pro-US-Japanese factions in the “ROK” and to drive out US imperialism, a war of subjugation declared by the DPRK at its Supreme People’s Assembly in January, and an internal war to eliminate “a group of outsiders’ top-class stooges” in the one-nation state.
However, as the war intended and provoked by the imperialist camp in East Asia is being delayed by the “strategic patience” of the DPRK and China, the imperialist camp, impatient with the approach of the November US presidential election, is moving toward promoting and expanding the already ongoing wars in Ukraine and West Asia.
This trend has been particularly evident as the preparatory meetings are held in the run-up to the July NATO summit in Washington, with the Russian advance in Ukraine to Kharkov and the defeat of the warmongers of Western Europe in the European Parliament. As NATO has threatened Russia with the mobilization of its nuclear aircraft carrier groups and tactical nuclear exercises in the Arctic, Baltic, and Mediterranean, Russia has responded with military exercises to strengthen unity with its allies.
Since the USA and NATO seek to encircle Russia and China by expanding their reach beyond the Atlantic to the Pacific, Russia has responded with a new alliance strategy encompassing Eurasia alongside China.
This is why, after his victory in the March elections, Putin first visited China, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and then the DPRK and Vietnam.
Among them, his visit to the DPRK to sign the “Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the DPRK and Russia” on June 19 was so important that it became a global issue for a while.
This treaty, signed on June 19, established the strongest alliance ever between the DPRK and Russia, including the former Soviet Union. Even the US treaties with the “ROK” and Japan are not stronger than this treaty, nor are those between NATO members.
Article 4 of this DPRK-Russia treaty on June 19, which stipulates, “In case any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed invasion from an individual state or several states, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay,” is almost identical to Article 1 of the “Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance” between the DPRK and Soviet Union, signed on July 6, 1961. But the former additionally includes Article 3: “In case a direct threat of armed invasion is created … the two sides shall immediately operate the channel of bilateral negotiations”.
When we see the US treaties with its allies, the “ROK” and Japan, the “Mutual Defense Treaty between the Republic of Korea and the United States” of October 1, 1953, only states that in the event of an armed attack, the parties will “consult together” in Article 2. Article 4 of the same treaty states, “The Republic of Korea grants, and the United States of America accepts, the right to dispose United States land, air and sea forces in and about the territory of the Republic of Korea.” “The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan” of June 23, 1960, only stipulates in Article 4 that the parties will “consult together,” and in Article 5, in the event of an armed attack “act to meet the common danger.” Both are feeble in alliance compared to the DPRK-Russia treaty of June 19. Article 4 of the Treaty between the “ROK” and the USA of October 1, 1953, is a shameful clause between imperialist and colony that leaves all decisions to the USA.
The 2024 DPRK-Russia Treaty has a different background than the 1961 DPRK-Soviet Union Treaty. The latter was concluded just before the Caribbean crisis in 1962, and the former was just before the war in East Asia, but the war in Ukraine has already been going on for more than two years and the war in West Asia is underway. In addition, Russia, a capitalist country, is heading the same way as the Soviet Union, a socialist state and the guiding and leading force in the world antifascist war in World War 2.
The DPRK had experience defending itself in the war in 1950-1953, in which it fought against 16 allied countries, including the most powerful imperialist of the time, the USA. However, unlike then, the DPRK is now a nuclear and missile superpower with nuclear warheads and delivery systems.
In other words, the treaty that Russia and the DPRK, as nuclear and missile superpowers, signed during and facing the war, respectively, is the strongest in history and stronger than any of the imperialists’ alliance treaties.
The DPRK is preparing for an imminent war in the “ROK” by reaffirming the 1961 treaty with China when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the DPRK in 2019 and by further strengthening the 1961 treaty with the Soviet Union via the treaty with Russia of June 19, 2024.
This shows that the DPRK is thoroughly adhering to the strategic tasks of strengthening unity with international revolutionary forces, one of the three revolutionary capabilities for the reunification of 1964, and preparing a favorable international environment for reunification, one of the five policies for reunification declared in May 1990.
Invasion and plunder are core characteristics of imperialists. Imperialism is the main culprit and root of all the wars that have been fought over the centuries and beyond. We must not be fooled by all the cunning maneuvers that imperialism wages to deflect political and economic crises and to shift the blame for its wars onto the anti-imperialist camp, all for its own insatiable greed.
Both Trump and Biden are merely political agents of the US state monopoly capital, the head of contemporary imperialism. We recognize that both of their ways represent imperialist policies, just different methods of ruling.
However, we note that Trump has said, for any reason, that if he comes to power, he will withdraw from the war in Ukraine, hold talks with the DPRK Chairman Kim Jong Un, and even consider removing US troops from Korea. We also note that Biden’s seemingly milder de-risking policy compared to Trump’s decoupling of the USA and China, which is limited to the economic sector, is actually a decisive measure for the separation of Taiwan, which could bring about a war between China and Taiwan, leading to the war in the “ROK”.
Therefore, we must keep a close eye on the imperialist camp’s belligerent rhetoric and war provocations, which are becoming more frequent and intense, in the context of the November US presidential election, where Trump is likely to be elected, and the emergence of “Democrats nominee replacement claim” after the recent televised debate between Trump and Biden.
In order to start World War 3 in earnest, the war in East Asia is necessary, and it is inevitable that it will occur in some way, whether directly caused by waging war in the “ROK” and the war in Taiwan in East Asia or indirectly promoted through expansion of the war in Eastern Europe and escalation of the war in West Asia.
We certainly do not want war, and we will make every effort to prevent it, but if war breaks out inevitably, we cannot miss the strategic importance of channelling the momentum of this war into a revolution.
In this sense, facing World War 3, we should refer to both the experience of World War 2, which was an antifascist war, in terms of anti-imperialist war, and the experience of World War 1, which turned the war into a decisive stage of revolution.
Imperialism won the “Cold War,” but it will lose the “New Cold War” due to its inherent vulnerability. The overwhelming forces, justifiable pretext, and operational superiority of the anti-imperialist camp are potent guarantees for advancing the victory. In World War 3, US imperialism and NATO cannot avoid defeat. The final victory of the anti-imperialist camp is certain.