Amid two years of North Korean summit diplomacy, the meeting between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, which took place one year ago tomorrow, may seem like little more than a footnote among Kim’s numerous gatherings with various leaders throughout the 2018-2019 period. 

Yet to dismiss last year’s Kim-Putin summit as but a minor affair is to miss the point of the role that Russia plays in North Korea’s foreign policy. 

Particularly in a Northeast Asian sub-region dominated by China and the U.S., as well as middle power South Korea, it is easy to dismiss Moscow’s role in Korean affairs