Vladimir Putin, at a press conference following his visits to Pyongyang and Hanoi, compared sanctions against the DPRK with the blockade of Leningrad. A video from the event was published on the Kremlin’s telegram channel.
“Some sanctions against North Korea, to put it mildly, somehow look very strange. As you know, I come from Leningrad, and everyone knows what Leningrad experienced during the Second World War <…>. This is a blockade when people were starved to death. <…> My brother practically died of starvation. He fell ill there and died.
<…> What's going on in North Korea now? You can treat the regime as you like, but introducing restrictions related to labor migration looks somehow strange. This leads to families, even if they are in a difficult financial situation, not having the opportunity to earn money somewhere and feed their children. Does this remind you of anything? And is this humane?” Putin said.
Putin arrived in North Korea on June 18 for the first time since 2000. The next day, Putin and Kim Jong-un signed an agreement on a “comprehensive strategic partnership.” InArticle 4 the document states that “if one of the parties finds itself in a state of war due to an armed attack by one or more states, the other party will immediately provide military assistance to it with all means at its disposal.”
After this, the South Korean government decided to review the ban on direct arms supplies to Ukraine and impose sanctions against four ships, five organizations and eight people involved in the transportation of weapons and oil between Russia and the DPRK.