To every action there is a reaction

It is axiomatic in political relations as, indeed, is the case in physics that to every action there is a reaction. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's visit to Vladivostok on Wednesday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin is a direct reaction to the failed summit he had held with US President Donald Trump last February in Vietnam.

The failed summit was attributed to Trump's hardline negotiating tactics, which for all intents and purposes had demanded the surrender of Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal in return for lifting sanctions on the country. For Pyongyang, that meant the surrender of the country, pure and simple.

North Korean officials had commented later on that in any case, the US does not have a steady or reliable foreign policy, and any accord with it now would remain subject of review or even revocation by successive presidents of the US.

President Putin knows well the negotiation game, and knows even more when it is time for him to enter the negotiation game.

As is, Pyongyang remains vulnerable under existing conditions, not only militarily, but also economically. North Korea enjoys only limited economic ties with a very few countries, such as China, on which it depends for energy, and Russia, which affords North Korean workers some limited opportunities of employment to the dismay of Washington.

North Korea is, in effect, very much like a wounded nation and desperately needs to open new windows of opportunities with nations of the world, especially the kind that counts economically and militarily. Moscow is aware of this much more than any other country and seeks to make hay while the opportunity shines.

The US and its Western allies have applied an embargo even on North Korean workers, thus depriving the country an opportunity to earn hard currencies. Using the employment of North Korean workers as a weapon against North Korea has angered several human rights bodies, but that did not offer Pyongyang a speedy relief.

Russia may still offer North Korea a rare window of opportunity to reduce the dire effects of the boycott and sanctions sponsored by the US, and that is what Kim and Putin aim to do. Besides, Kim's hands will be strengthened by just meeting with President Putin. Ending his isolation is the number one objective of the North Korean leader and that what he is going to attain by merely talking with the Russian president.