Is the Northern Alliance Making a Comeback? Do Russia, China and North Korea Constitute An Alliance?

In light of a second Kim-Trump summit this article reviews the posture of Russia and China and suggests that not only do they have an alliance but that it also includes to some degree North Korea. Moscow and Beijing have endorsed Pyongyang's negotiating posture and much evidence suggests a Russo--Chinese alliance, albeit an informal one. Such an alliance possesses immense implications for the ongoing efforts to find a negotiated path out of the Korean nuclearization crisis and for regional security in general. But in the meantime the advent of such an alliance imparts a quality of regional bipolarity to the Northeast Asian security agenda that could obstruct further progress towards peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]