North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently met with the leaders of Vietnam and Laos and agreed to boost ties. Will other Southeast Asian countries follow?
North Korea recently celebrated the 80th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party, rolling out the red carpet for high-ranking political figures from its allies like China and Russia who were invited to the event.
The leaders of Southeast Asian countries Vietnam and Laos were among the foreign dignitaries attending the huge parade, which involved tens of thousands of troops showcasing Pyongyang's extensive arsenal of weapons.
The visit by To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, marks the first time a Vietnamese leader has traveled to North Korea in 18 years.
As his party's general secretary, Lam holds the equivalent position to the one held by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in the North Korean Workers' Party.
A diplomatic win for North Korea?
North Korean state media outlet KCNA later reported that Pyongyang and Hanoi had agreed to boost bilateral cooperation, particularly in the areas of defense and health care.
Mark S. Cogan, an associate professor of peace and conflict studies at the Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan, said Lam's visit was a diplomatic victory for the heavily-sanctioned North Korea.
"It was a sign of legitimacy, as it was the first time a high-ranking Vietnamese official had been on North Korean soil in almost two decades," he told DW.
"For both sides, the visit is a win-win, as they provide services to each other in a difficult environment. Vietnam has been the corridor for illegal goods from North Korea into the region, bypassing the heavy Western sanctions on the regime," Cogan said.
Similar political ideology, different economic systems
North Korea and Vietnam are also celebrating the 75th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations in 2025.
Both countries are nominally communist and have similar ideologies on how to rule their population. However, they differ in their economic approaches, said Edward Howell, political scientist and lecturer at the University of Oxford.
"Vietnam and North Korea are not the same. Vietnam's ideologically communist but economically capitalist system is something that Kim Jong Un does not want to emulate," said Howell, who is also a Korea Foundation Fellow at think tank Chatham House.
"The fact that North Korea and Vietnam have pledged stronger cooperation in defense, health care and aviation highlights how at least on the surface, Pyongyang wants to find yet another source of material goods," he underlined.
Pyongyang is still heavily dependent on Beijing, with China being the North's top trading partner for more than two decades, accounting for roughly 98% of North Korea's official total trade in 2023, according to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations.
For Hanoi, strengthening cooperation with Pyongyang could be a way to develop economic ties with the North, particularly in the agriculture and culture sectors, Howell said.
But with North Korea being one of the world's poorest and most reclusive states, its small and centrally planned economy offers limited opportunities for trade.
South Korea's central bank has estimated that the North's economy was worth just USD 24.5 billion (Euro 22.8 billion) in 2022, relying heavily on a few sectors such as mining, agriculture and its massive defense apparatus.
The defense sector is one of the largest employers in the highly centralized totalitarian state, with an estimated 2 million workers out of a population of 26 million.
Originally just a supplier to its own military, North Korea has found a few key overseas customers for its weapons and ammunition — mostly former Soviet countries or those in sub-Saharan Africa.
Deepening ties with Laos
Vietnam's neighbor Laos was also represented at the Workers' Party's 80th anniversary celebrations in Pyongyang, with Thongloun Sisoulith, Laos' president and general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, attending the festivities.
North Korean state media reported that Pyongyang and Vientiane had also agreed to deepen their partnership. The two countries have maintained strong diplomatic ties for five decades, but bilateral trade remains negligible.
Still, Laos helps the North in ways other countries will not, Howell said.
"The bolstering of ties between Pyongyang and Vientiane serves to highlight how North Korea has yet another country willing to assist it in evading international sanctions," he underlined.
Laos also reportedly allows North Korean IT and construction workers to be employed in the country despite international sanctions. The wages earned by these workers generate foreign revenue for the North Korean regime that is allegedly used to support Pyongyang's military programs.
Ideal partners for Pyongyang?
Shreyas Reddy, lead correspondent at NK News, a Seoul-based news website focusing on North Korean affairs, said Southeast Asia is useful for North Korea because of the region's neutrality in global affairs, with most countries in the region hoping for balanced relations with opposing powers like the US, China and Russia.
"If Pyongyang wants to extend its diplomatic reach, it can hardly ask for better partners than Southeast Asian countries," he told DW.
But Reddy pointed out that any countries getting closer to North Korea run significant risks of being seen as complicit by helping Pyongyang evade sanctions.
"If Southeast Asian countries are to step up cooperation with [North Korea], particularly on trade, they will have to be very careful to toe the line on sanctions," he said. "Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand would be more wary of doing anything with North Korea that could harm their international standing."
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