Following China and Russia, North Korea is attempting to strengthen military cooperation with Vietnam, another traditional socialist ally.

The Korean Central News Agency reported today (the 23rd) that "a delegation of the Ministry of Defense of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, led by Vice Defense Minister Rye Chol-ung, departed Pyongyang on the 22nd to visit the Socialist Republic of Vietnam."

The agency added, "They were seen off at Pyongyang International Airport by members of the Ministry of Defense, as well as the Vietnamese ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to our country and the embassy's defense attaché."

North Korea has been stepping up exchanges and cooperation with Vietnam following the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, who made a state visit to North Korea in October of last year to attend events marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Earlier this year in May, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung visited North Korea as a special envoy of General Secretary To Lam, meeting with Choe Yong-won, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. In June, Vietnamese Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang visited Pyongyang to hold talks with Social Security Minister Pang Tu-sop and discuss ways to expand cooperation in the public security sector.

The defense delegation's current visit to Vietnam is also in line with North Korea's recent aggressive moves to expand defense cooperation with China and Russia.

Analysts suggest this clearly reveals North Korea's strategy to leverage these two major powers as a backing while rallying other socialist friendly nations to bolster its military strength and counter South Korea-U.S.-Japan security cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last June, where he expressed a stance to strengthen military exchanges.

Subsequently, North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il participated in the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum held in Beijing from the 15th to the 17th. It marked the first time in seven years that a high-ranking North Korean official directly attended the security conference hosted by China's Ministry of Defense.

In his speech at the forum, Vice Minister Kim asserted that North Korea's status as a nuclear-weapon state is irreversible. During his meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun, he stated that North Korea would strengthen strategic communication with the Chinese military and closely coordinate exchanges and cooperation.

North Korea and Russia signed the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership following a summit in June 2024, and have since closely bonded as "blood allies," with North Korea deploying combat troops and engineers to the war in Ukraine starting in October of that year.

(Photo: Yonhap News)