North Korea wants to strengthen its friendship with Russia
North Korea’s state economic development strategy for 2016-2020 implies strengthening ties with Russia, reports TASS with reference to the Japanese newspaper Mainichi, which gained access to this document.
According to the newspaper, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) wants to increase its trade with Russia to one billion dollars. North Korea will abandon its one-sided orientation toward China and will expand trade with Southeast Asia and Middle East countries.
The reason for this policy may be serious economic difficulties that the country face due to the strengthened international sanctions. The program states that the DPRK has a shortage of food products, and its energy and coal industries are poorly developed. In this regard, North Korea needs global economic reforms and new technological equipment.
On April 18, the Kremlin announced that President Vladimir Putin invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to visit Russia in the second half of April. This will be the first current DPRK leader’s visit to the country. His predecessor, Kim Jong Il, visited Russia three times. The last visit was in 2011.