Russian defense minister Andrei Belousov’s trip to Pyongyang over the weekend was the latest in a flurry of such visits since last year, when Russian military delegations began appearing in Pyongyang with a frequency unseen since the Korean War.

There is little doubt that military cooperation between the two countries is growing rapidly, spanning arms trade and since October. But can the same be said of their interactions beyond the military sphere? 

After all, not only uniformed generals and reclusive intelligence officials but also dignitaries representing various sectors of the Russian economy have visited Pyongyang in recent months.

But