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The Russian navy will conduct joint maneuvers with its North Korean counterpart in 2012 according to Russian military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Igor Muginov. The drills will focus on refugee interdiction search and rescue. Perhaps they will practice rescuing folks like the nine North Koreans who drifted into Japanese waters and have applied for asylum.
In the meantime, the Russian comrades (in its coverage of the Kim-Medvedev gulag summit, North Korean state media described Russia as a "communist" country) appear ready to write-off most of North Korea's debt from when they really were a communist country.
The Russians are also said to be pushing the gas pipeline idea as an alternative to nuclear reactors in some future Six Parties Talks deal, solving Professor Haggard's conundrum of who would actually pay for the scheme. It would also once again put the North Koreans on the spot: what are you more interested in--energy and prosperity or nuclear reactors?
