1
00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:04,400
Speaker 1: Hither du Peter lewis our Asia business correspondents with US

2
00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:05,439
Speaker 1: Now Peter, Hello.

3
00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:07,320
Speaker 2: Good evening, head Peter.

4
00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:09,799
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what I found fascinating about the Vladimir

5
00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:12,880
Speaker 1: Potan and Kam meeting is just how they're flaunting it

6
00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:13,840
Speaker 1: isn't that interesting.

7
00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,959
Speaker 2: Well, it's partly because there's very few places left that

8
00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,960
Speaker 2: Vladimir Putin can go to to flaunt anything. He's sort

9
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,000
Speaker 2: of become a bit of an international pariah since the

10
00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,240
Speaker 2: Ukraine War, and he wants to try and break that

11
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,519
Speaker 2: isolation and tryumph cozy up to some other countries. But

12
00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,520
Speaker 2: he's got two problems. One is that he can't really

13
00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:40,680
Speaker 2: travel very far from Russia's borders now that he's got

14
00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,640
Speaker 2: to share. Russia's got a shared border with North Korea,

15
00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,920
Speaker 2: so that's fine, he can sail and fly through that.

16
00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,519
Speaker 2: He doesn't have a border with Vietnam, but China's in

17
00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,720
Speaker 2: the middle, so has got friendly relations with China. And

18
00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:56,200
Speaker 2: the other problem is he has to make sure he

19
00:00:56,240 --> 00:01:00,040
Speaker 2: goes to places to countries that are signatories for the

20
00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,160
Speaker 2: National Criminal Court because they've got the rest warrant out

21
00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:05,920
Speaker 2: for him. So it doesn't really leave in the many

22
00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:11,080
Speaker 2: options other than North Korea. So this is why Kimji

23
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,919
Speaker 2: rouins in the same boat. He needs some more international

24
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:17,959
Speaker 2: friends as well. So they're really sort of playing this

25
00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,400
Speaker 2: up in terms of this agreement. They signed this mutual

26
00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,760
Speaker 2: help agreement in that they would help each other out

27
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,200
Speaker 2: in the cases of any aggression or incidents or wars

28
00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:33,280
Speaker 2: against them. They didn't elaborate on what they view as

29
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,000
Speaker 2: an incident, and they didn't elaborate either or what the

30
00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,679
Speaker 2: response will be if that gets broken. But it might

31
00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,120
Speaker 2: have some unintended consequences. I mean, one of them is

32
00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 2: seeing already is that South Korea, which so far has

33
00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,800
Speaker 2: refused to provide any sort of weapons to Ukraine, is

34
00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,960
Speaker 2: now reconsidering that in the light of this new agreement here.

35
00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,040
Speaker 2: So it's a very odd situation. I think the one

36
00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,480
Speaker 2: that's more interesting is Vietnam. Now he's got the opportunity

37
00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:04,440
Speaker 2: to go to Vietnam. I think Vietnam are doing him

38
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:08,520
Speaker 2: a big favor here and that they're exercising what they

39
00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:13,440
Speaker 2: like to call bamboo diplomacy. In other words, they're foreign policies.

40
00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,120
Speaker 2: Like bamboo, it sways and bends in the wind, but

41
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,720
Speaker 2: it never breaks. And Vietnam wants to be friends with

42
00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,760
Speaker 2: everyone and have enemies with no one. And it's becoming

43
00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,440
Speaker 2: an increasingly important international partner because in the last few

44
00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:34,560
Speaker 2: months Joe Biden has visited, has visited, and now vladimm

45
00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,400
Speaker 2: Pootin is there as well. So Vietnam is playing this

46
00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:41,360
Speaker 2: game very well and exercise with its bamboo diplomacy very

47
00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:42,520
Speaker 2: nicely at the moments.

48
00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,760
Speaker 1: Really interesting. The BBC today is running these photographs of

49
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:51,240
Speaker 1: these satellite shots of North Korea appearing to build fortifications

50
00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,280
Speaker 1: all like a wall along its border with South Korea. Now, Peter,

51
00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,639
Speaker 1: that obviously, I mean, they're obviously trying to strengthen the

52
00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,520
Speaker 1: selves militarily and strategically. I for the longest time have

53
00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:05,079
Speaker 1: just written them off as a bit of a joke.

54
00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,120
Speaker 1: But am I making a mistake? There? Are they actually

55
00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:07,600
Speaker 1: a threat?

56
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,280
Speaker 2: In some ways? They are, you know, I mean, the

57
00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,640
Speaker 2: one thing that they're good at making, they don't make

58
00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:17,960
Speaker 2: very much at all, and they don't make much very well,

59
00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,600
Speaker 2: but they do make a lot of ammunition and that's

60
00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,520
Speaker 2: been shipped to rush up through their shared borders. So

61
00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,040
Speaker 2: there's really nothing anyone can do to stop this. Had

62
00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:29,840
Speaker 2: it been going through a third party, they would have

63
00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:36,760
Speaker 2: been slapped with sanctions straight away. Well, that's the worry.

64
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,160
Speaker 2: I mean, there have been reports that, you know, some

65
00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,440
Speaker 2: of the weapons, some of the bombs have been found

66
00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:48,120
Speaker 2: in various parts of Ukraine have North Korean markings on

67
00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,360
Speaker 2: them and therefore were clearly made in North Korea and

68
00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,440
Speaker 2: do do damage. For what they don't have, it's the

69
00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,000
Speaker 2: sort of advanced technology that they would really like to launch,

70
00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:03,960
Speaker 2: sophisticated rockets to launch satellites into space. They really don't

71
00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,480
Speaker 2: have that, and what's Kim Jo wrong. Would like to

72
00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:11,560
Speaker 2: see if you can get some of that technology from Russia.

73
00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,880
Speaker 2: But at the moments, I mean, they're certainly irritant. They

74
00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,559
Speaker 2: can certainly do damage, but they must know for sure

75
00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:22,960
Speaker 2: that if they launched any sort of serious attack on

76
00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,040
Speaker 2: South Korea, the response for them could be fairly devastating

77
00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,600
Speaker 2: in terms of what South Korea could do back and

78
00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,799
Speaker 2: its allies with it. So there's a lot of bluster

79
00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:35,839
Speaker 2: involved in this, but we shouldn't just write it off.

80
00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,640
Speaker 2: There is always a risk that they could do some

81
00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:40,039
Speaker 2: serious damage.

82
00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,160
Speaker 1: Ye, Peter, Hey, thank you. I always appreciate talking to you.

83
00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:44,520
Speaker 1: Talk to you next week. That's Peter Lewis our Asia

84
00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:49,080
Speaker 1: Business Correspondent. For more from Hither Duplessy Alan Drive, listen

85
00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,200
Speaker 1: live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,

86
00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:54,480
Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio