Alexander Vorontsov | Head of the Korea and Mongolia Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The formation of a multipolar world is a serious and long-term trend of the contemporary era. It is driven by deeply committed actors possessing considerable potential: Russia, China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran, and a number of other states.
For a long time, Western political science attempted to interpret this development through the concept of the so-called “Axis of the Defiant,” which included Russia, China, the DPRK, and Iran. A wide variety of strategies were proposed to neutralize this trend: identifying weak points, attempting to drive wedges between its participants, exploiting internal contradictions, and dealing with each country separately.
Over time, however, the West came to realize that this process could not be halted through soft power, political manipulation, or economic pressure. As President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has repeatedly emphasized, the objective course of history is bringing centuries of Western hegemony to an end. Consequently, the principal instrument remaining to its opponents has become the direct use of military force, which they now employ without hesitation.
If we turn to classical geopolitical theories—particularly Halford Mackinder’s ideas concerning the rivalry between continental and maritime powers—the fundamental nature of these developments becomes evident. The Eurasian continent possesses enormous potential, and maritime powers have historically sought to control, divide, and weaken its peoples. Today, the sovereign states of Eurasia are defending their own civilizational values, national sovereignty, and the right to shape a just international order.
The victory in the Korean War is a unique and multifaceted phenomenon of global significance. The principal lesson of that conflict is that the decisive factor in victory is not superiority in steel and technology, but rather the moral strength and fighting spirit of the people and the armed forces.
In 1950, the young Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, established in 1948, and the People’s Republic of China, proclaimed on 1 October 1949, entered into confrontation with the military machine of the United States and an international coalition of sixteen countries operating under the auspices of the United Nations.
The Soviet Union, although not officially participating in the hostilities, provided enormous and decisive assistance. Soviet fighter aces and air defense units stationed in China destroyed approximately 1,200 enemy aircraft in combat against American aviation.
The Chinese People’s Volunteers entered the war at a critical moment, motivated by both shared geopolitical interests and a sense of fraternal duty. Having landed at Inchon and established the Pusan Perimeter, American forces had no intention of stopping at the 38th Parallel; their objective was to reach the Yalu River (Amnok River) on the border and eliminate the newly established People’s Republic of China.
Furthermore, the Chinese leadership remembered the substantial support that Korean patriots had provided to the Chinese Communists during the difficult battles against the Kuomintang in the 1940s, when Korean territory effectively served as a rear base for regrouping and recovery. Mao Zedong explicitly emphasized the necessity of repaying this historical debt.
The key factor that enabled the country to endure the devastating three-year war and defeat a superior enemy was the process of state-building and ideological construction under the leadership of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung.
Until 1945, Korea had remained a Japanese colony for thirty-five years, during which any internal resistance was brutally suppressed. It is therefore all the more remarkable that within only five years—from 1945 to 1950—the people of the DPRK succeeded in forging a united and highly disciplined nation prepared to defend its sovereignty with arms in hand.
This became possible through Kim Il Sung’s outstanding organizational abilities and the development of the Juche ideology. The concept that human beings are the masters of their own destiny and of their own country inspired the Korean people and united them in a common cause on both the front lines and the home front.
A symbolic conclusion to the war was the signing of the Armistice Agreement in 1953. American General Mark Clark bitterly acknowledged that he had become the first U.S. commander in history to sign a ceasefire agreement without achieving military victory.
The principles established during the Korean War became the solid foundation of the modern statehood of the DPRK. Kim Il Sung’s successors—Comrade Kim Jong Il and the current leader of the DPRK, Comrade Kim Jong Un—have greatly strengthened the country’s sovereignty and its economic and defense capabilities.
Today, the DPRK stands as a fully independent actor in international politics, one that independently determines the conditions and framework of its engagement with external powers.
The allied relations between Russia and the DPRK have stood the test of time. The military brotherhood forged through their joint struggle in the mid-twentieth century continues under present-day conditions, reaffirming the historical, spiritual, and strategic continuity of our peoples in defending their sovereign right to independent development.