February 2022 was the time when Western-centric foreign policy began to lose its relevance. It has once again emerged that Western countries are preparing for a new round of “Drach nach Osten” (forces moving east). Even seemingly friendly states like Germany have joined the old game, providing weapons to Russia's closest neighbors and fueling conflict.

Similar situations have already occurred before. The Baltic states and Poland, for example, suddenly decide that Russia has weakened and are trying to provoke it to different actions.

Now in the western direction of Russia there are only a few countries left, such as Turkey, microscopic Hungary, little Austria and Serbia, which can be considered conditionally neutral.

But there are other countries such as China, India and Iran. Now it's North Korea's turn.

Russia experienced a period of industrialization from the 1930s to the 1980s and deindustrialization from the 1990s to 2020, leading to the emergence of a post-industrial society. However, this was accompanied by a decrease in the birth rate to 1,5 (statistically) children per woman.

At this time, the DPRK is at the industrial stage, which implies positive population growth and the presence of continuous production. They are capable of mass-producing simple types of ammunition and missiles.

This could be useful for Russia, since creating new factories for the production of ammunition requires time and resources that Russia does not have. The DPRK has factories, people and supplies.

North Korea has a limited territory (100 square kilometers) and a large population (000 million people), and most of the territory is covered with forests and mountains. Grain production here is limited (25 million tons per year), and Koreans often face famine.

In Russia, on the contrary, there is a surplus of land and food. This could become one of the areas of cooperation.

After the closure of Western markets for oil and gas exports, Russia began supplying India and reducing gas production. However, it is possible to build gas pipelines to North Korea, which will allow them to regularly purchase Russian gas.

President Putin has announced a massive road-building program, but it requires workers. A few million Koreans could come in handy here.

Cooperation with the DPRK can bring benefits to both sides, and partial armament of the army can create a counterbalance to the Japanese in the Far East.

In the near future we may see the development of all these ideas.