India-North Korea Relations

[sorcerer]

North Korea's Foreign Minister Makes Rare Visit to India


North Korea's foreign minister is in New Delhi to discuss the country's nuclear program and request assistance.

On Monday, North Korea's top diplomat, Ri Su-yong, arrived in India on a rare visit. Ri became the first North Korean foreign minister to visit India in at least 25 years (although Kim Yong-il, the North Korean vice foreign minister, visited India in 2007 and 2009). The last time a senior Indian official visited North Korea was over two decades ago, when Shankar Dayal Sharma, then the Indian vice president, met Kim Il-sung.

In New Delhi, Ri met with his counterpart, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. According to reports, the two discussed North Korea's nuclear weapons program and regional security issues, including the stability of the Korean peninsula.

In addition to Swaraj, Ri met with Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari. Ri's trip to India comes ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Seoul, South Korea, which is expected in May. Modi is currently on a tour of France, Germany, and Canada and thus was not in India when Ri arrived.

The specifics of Ri's conversations with senior Indian officials remain unknown, but it is likely that Ri requested Indian aid and assistance. In 2011, India provided $1 million in emergency aid through the World Food Program. New Delhi will be keen to keep the details of the visit under wraps in order to avoid perceptions that India is contravening South Korean interests in assisting North Korea. Reports in the Indian media suggested that Ri would brief Indian officials about the status of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, a source of concern for New Delhi. Swaraj reportedly conveyed Indian security concerns to Ri during his visit. She emphasized India's position "on the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, including the objective of denuclearizing."

North Korea is under heavy international sanctions for its nuclear weapons program. Though India did not participate in the Six-Party Talks that disintegrated almost exactly six years ago, in 2009, New Delhi's strategic relationships with both South Korea and Japan have grown considerably in the years since. New Delhi has not historically played the role of an intermediary actor between North Korea and its neighbors, but if Ri's visit truly included a briefing on the North's nuclear weapons program, it is likely that India could convey this information to other Northeast Asian states.

Ri's visit to India additionally comes at a time when relations between China and North Korea are "on shaky ground," as The Diplomat's Kerry Brown noted. Ri's trip to India will not go unnoticed in Beijing. For New Delhi, which recently declared its intention to turn its decades-old "Look East" policy into an "Act East" policy, increasing its engagement with Pyongyang is, in many ways, both strategic and calculated.

India and North Korea maintain normal diplomatic relations, and bilateral trade between the two countries totals around $500 million annually.

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Makes Rare Visit to India | The Diplomat

 

[sorcerer]

India–North Korea relations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Compersion]

We ought get also help the Russians to make a bigger footprint into North Korea ...

 

[anupamsurey]

North korea is in such a deep shit (but no one talks about it in open media), since north korea is falling out of favour in chinese views, and russians already stretched to a limit with the ongoing crisis, north korea is seeking support from India (with the new found strength in international diplomacy and trade- thanks to Modi Juggernaut). and more Importantly India has historical soft spot for communist nations, so they might want to loosen the effect of embargo/sanctions or convince the international community to do so with the help of India. the timing is no less ominous, just a week ago thaw has been seen in US-Iran relationship (this might have given Pyongyang a new lease of hope), and according to some media reports India had a major role in convincing US to negotiate with Iran in initial days. so this might be what NK expects from India. After all no one can survive in today's world by Isolating themselves.

 

[sorcerer]

NK News: China, like North Korea, is very friendly with Pakistan. Some say India is trying to counterbalance China and Pakistan by pursuing relations with North Korea. Would you say that there is trilateral relationship between North Korea, China, and Pakistan? Is China actually using North Korea as an intermediary seller to counterbalance India by providing Pakistan with weapons advancement?

Hamisevicz: I don't see the North Korea-China-Pakistan trilateral being tight or actual. I think a lot of people are concerned that China allows overflights from North Korea to Pakistan or vice versa. The United States and many in the international community have tried to encourage all countries, including China, to, if there was a suspicious flight, not allow it to pass through (the countries') air space. For North Korea, there are not many countries (to fly over) to get out of its region, and one of the big ones is China. So, there is this (mentality,) "Well, China let that flight to go to Pakistan or China allowed that passage," but I don't see it being a very coordinated effort between China and North Korea and Pakistan or China really looking for North Korea to help out Pakistan. I think China uses North Korea and Pakistan on more of a bilateral basis. So, (there are) China-North Korea relations and China-Pakistan relations.

For India, I think there is this idea that, by having relations with North Korea, it can monitor (North Korea) a little bit more. (India) can try to encourage North Korea to not conduct proliferation and other illicit activities and other dangerous activities from the India policy point of view and from an international point of view with Pakistan. And, so, they can talk to North Korea and say, "We have a relationship. We have trade with you, but if you keep continue to deal with Pakistan on a dangerous military level, if you keep trying to do these things, it's going to hurt our relationship that we have with you." So, I think that's the context of the counterweight or counterbalance. It's not an equal counterweight or counterbalance to the China-North Korea relationship or to the China-Pakistan relationship, but it is an aspect that Indian foreign policy can establish or tries to use.

And, then, India-China relations are very difficult, and, like many countries in Asia, India has a robust economic relationship with China and, on the other hand, has very serious security concerns with China. They fought a war against each other. They have disputed borders. China has encroached on those borders recently. So, the security side of the relationship is (tense). You have the new Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi coming in, (and) his party, at least in their election manifesto, suggested that they're going to have a more robust foreign policy and be a little bit tougher on China on these security questions. But, everyone looks at Prime Minister Modi and his business acumen and how he developed the state of Gujarat economically and says, "Okay, well, our China-India economic relations could continue and continue to improve." So, it is the dynamic (between the economic partnership with China and security concerns) that many countries are dealing with, and India is (grappling with this) it big time.

Hamisevicz: India uses North Korea to counterbalance China, Pakistan | NK News - North Korea News

 

[sob]

The only thing that we can do with the North Koreans is to ask them for a detailed information of arms and technology transferred to Pakistan. We have intercepted a couple of ships from North Korea to Pakistan, carrying arms.

 

[cobra commando]

North Korea requests food aid from India - UPI.com