garden and the night of entertainment. but this new bond between buddy near bruton and kim jong on is far from harmless. it's the leader of russia, a country several years into a full scale war. and the leader of north korea, totalitarian dictatorship, that's constantly testing new missiles. what's really bringing these 2 leaders closer together? a shared vision of the world's desperation, or something more pragmatic. the pretty wild gift from russia for peeling young this is vladimir putin has been giving kim jong and a lot of present to show how close the leaders have become. these public displays of affection are meant for the whole world to see

the north korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world. and russia has been sidelined by the west since its full scale invasion of ukraine in 2022. so joining forces has advantages for both sides, and this is where it has the biggest advantage for boots and on the battlefield. russia has lost a lot of soldiers since the beginning of the war and is having difficulties recruiting at home. that's where north korean help comes and kim sent troops to fight against ukraine's unexpected incursion onto a russian soil in the course region. these videos are believe to show north korean soldiers being equipped at a military base in russia. in january, ukraine announced it had captured wounded north korean soldiers in the course region, south korean, and us intelligent say there are more than 10000 north koreans fighting on the

russian side. lisa's officer lived it completely, a precedent to to take steps when someone asked me in 2022 kind of happened as a definition north of that's for to keep us in mind defense which has never happened before. this career has never ask a dispatched proof of troops like full units to tell any of the country fuel and our tech keeps keys, started studying north korea in moscow. he's been in south korea since 2011, and is now electra at south korea's quick me in university, specializing in north korea and military, social and political history. jenny town agrees it's, it's very rare to see north korea spend trips to another country and especially for war. but north korea doesn't necessarily have a direct stake. and so this is the 1st time you know, north korea is really acting like an actual allied jenny town has been working on north korea for around 20 years and runs the north korea program at the us space

stimson center think tank. she spoke to us on a work trip to south korea. some of the reports that we're hearing coming out of russia is that, you know, the north koreans are certainly capable and, you know, willing to fight. but they, they have no idea what to do. big south korean and us officials estimate hundreds of can soldiers have been killed. you know, mean you can download and probably had an understanding that the majority of those troops probably weren't coming home. oh, he's absolutely a roof. let's give it to be a dozen times. he said, no matter what happens to his soldiers, kim is getting money for them being there. and that's important for his cash strapped economy that on the battlefield. his soldiers aren't the most crucial things came. is providing to prove to the is

a pig farm, a tractor factory, and a pigeon farm and north korea. and they all might be producing for putin. but we're not really back on the animal gifts, because these are all likely missile factories. north korea awesome can seals these kinds of factories by giving them misleading names. in 2023, kim reportedly ordered a boost to north korea's production as missiles and artillery shells. and guess what? north korea has been providing russia millions of artillery shells. according to south korea's intelligent service so it seems kim is helping boots and resupply and his war of attrition as lots and lots of deals which housed offer again to be extremely useful in communication supply. by the way,

the horses we saw earlier were reportedly also part of pollutants payment for north korean shells. and kim isn't just providing shelves. this is in north korea and ballistic messiah ukraine says russia has been using them in the war, like here and kids. these are remnants of missiles used in a tax and several locations across you create the u. k based investigative organization conflict arm and that research has confirmed there. in north korean missiles, russia has denied using north korean weapons but can then put in at made their relationship official. they signed a treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership on political and economic cooperation. but the headline here is the mutual defense clause and the treaty if

either party is attacked, the other will provide, quote, military or other assistance. the russia has been framing the war in ukraine as a war against nato and the collective west leg by the us. and that's a cause, but kim is happy to sign up for now. russia has a military partner in that war against the west, in that common cause. and the military partner that has nuclear weapons and is willing to also take risky, bold moves the way they're rushing you hard, right? this is what many experts say about north korea. yes, they have nuclear weapons. the mutual defense clause is pretty much copy and paste from an old treaty from 1961 when russia was part of the soviet union. so the whole thing feels like a revival of cold war times when you chose to move back to just gets to

a couple of pieces of the go with him years. okay. he's got a meeting, but it's use case communicate you say it is can play with them. so for us to smell and it sounds like pollutant is trying to downplay it. but for kim, this is big because it's cooperation with russia potentially includes technology that the international community doesn't want north korea to get kim has long been trying to show that he has intercontinental ballistic missiles that can carry a nuclear warhead. the he's been boasting that now north korea's missiles could even hit the us mainland. but there is debate about how far they could fly and farmed with the warhead and how accurately they can hit targets. all of this is also warring for neighboring south korea. the 2 countries have been in the frozen conflict since the korean war and the 1950s for more on the

at check out are mapped out on relations between north and south korea. but back to put it in camp that russia north korea treaty, we talked about before, also promises cooperation on the quote, peaceful use of nuclear energy. but there is concern that russia could be helping north korea with non peaceful things like it's nukes, especially now that north korea has sent russia troops. the more russia is north korea, the more likely there is going to be cooperation in military technology. you should never underestimate what north korea can accomplish on its own, but with russian assistance it can certainly move faster and potentially into more sophisticated technology is super power russia owing you something is useful when you're as isolated as north korea. north korea is under sanctions, which means limited trade. and kim is basically sealed the country off. one of the

points where north korea is connected to the outside world is the china north korea friendship bridge. this will help us understand north korea's friendship with russia. so bear with us. china has long been north korea's lifeline. as of 2023, china accounted for over 95 percent of north korea's trade. most of it took place at this bridge. it was already in use during the cold war when china was an important supporter. i think the oh is trying to diminish the influence of the, of the trend is to diminish the dependent on the training. that's where the north korea, russia friendship, bridge comes in on the other side of the country. it was built in 1959 when russia was still part of the soviet union, which back north korea. now guten, is willing to see that relationship blossom again. a chance for ken, the cube is so much better to invest into this relationship is used to cope with

the 5 noisy can counter balance between these dominance in the like foreign lation for the treaty, the 2 leaders signed pays the way for that and building bridges isn't just an empty phrase for put in and can. they literally agreed to build a bridge, one for vehicle traffic. it could potentially be constructed here as an extension of the nearest russian highway and could mean more trade in the future. trading with russia is already paying off for can north korean oil tankers have been making trips to russia to bring back oil. for example, on this route, that's according to an investigation by the open source center, a u. k based non profit. and that oil matters for 2 reasons. first of all, it's actual fuel for kens military, which means it's strengthening his regime. he reportedly gets oil in return for

sending ammunition missiles and troops to pretend. and secondly, this is a win win for bruton, because putin has a lot of oil. the majority of it used to go to e u countries, but the european union has banned most oil imports since rushes full scale invasion of ukraine pollutants. oil shipments to north korea are also a way to show how little he cares about sanctions of any kind. kim, this regime has been under un sanctions because of his missiles and nuclear weapons program for almost 20 years. they also limit oil imports to north korea before russia consistently supported the restrictions. now put in has changed course, excuse breaking, but to un sanctions. so she has break and we told mechanism, a russia has a lot of power in the us because it's a permanent member and the security council,

meaning it can veto things. in 2024, russia used its veto to shut down a you and watch dogs that monitors sanctions on north korea. because it's a couple itself is completely paralyzed on the issue of north korea. um, no new sanctions can be passed. so russia's behavior in the security council is pretty useful for north korea. meanwhile, north korea's long term allied china abstained in the recent about the different approaches between china and russia towards the international community. is that china doesn't want to up in the system. they just want better positioning within it, right. versus russia is trying to up and the system. we think this always be quite a no, she championed and even boston though, actually like i do believe it's all like pitching was a tell that determination, whole relationship washer which have to choose but to comply on to is this now it seems like a mature needs a quite a bit and so our commitment to,

to put in gets fresh troops an ammunition for his war and ukraine. and kim gets oil special gift and a buddy on the international stage. so for now, the leaders can give each other what they need to use various relationships as a search engine. quantity dispatcher wants it to be of that one with if it does that, it's very bad for those career because the trend and won't need that anymore. i don't think the relationship is necessarily contingent on the warranty. it is a substantive treaty and one that isn't just about the. ringback or, and ukraine, but really building cooperation in the been, you know, what russia has referred to as the war against the west. which means north korea, a rogue, an isolated power with nuclear weapons can call russia. it's pragmatic friends, at least for.