But wouldn’t Su-35s divert money needed for flat-screens and ski resorts?

I could be wrong, but I doubt even Vlad Putin would violate U.N. Security Council Sanctions so blatantly as this:

North Korea made an attempt to purchase advanced fighter jets from Russia by sending a special envoy, a senior South Korean military official told the JoongAng Ilbo on Thursday.

“Choe Ryong-hae, who visited Moscow as a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in November last year, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets,” the military source said.

Little has been disclosed about the discussions between Choe and Putin. Choe, a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of North Korea, met with Putin on Nov. 18 and delivered a letter from Kim, the Russian presidential office has said, without providing further details. The Kremlin said the meeting was not open to the press, and no press conference was arranged afterward. [Joongang Ilbo]

According to the report, the Russians gave Choe a tour of the factory in Khabarovsk where the jets are produced. The very fact that the Russians gave Choe a tour of a plant producing something that North Korea isn’t allowed to buy probably suggests what Putin’s real game is — to show much trouble he could make for us if he chose to, even as the Russian economy dissolves on his watch due to all the trouble we’ve made for him.

That would be Choe’s second international visit since a cryptically worded KCNA report caused some of us to speculate that he’d been sent on his final state visit … to the glue factory.

According to the report, “It is unknown how many jets the North attempted to acquire.” Starting at $40 million each, that would mean each aircraft costs about 40% of the one-year cost for the World Food Program to feed just 2.4 million of the kids and pregnant women that Kim Jong Un isn’t feeding.

Hat tip to The National Interest.

6 Responses

  1. Putin arming the regime would result in further sanctions. Has the man lost his mind? Russias economy is already in pieces. I’m sure we can all look forward to a day of world leaders condemning him, Obama will likely be the first to make a speech if such a deal is made.

  2. The Norks don’t want Su-35’s as a tactical defensive fighter, because even if it can do everything Sukhoi claims, opposing offensive forces would have enough mass to overwhelm the numbers of Nork Su-35’s the Russians supply. No, the Norks want an offensive strategic nuclear bomber force, and the Su-35 can ship many 500-kilogram bombs. The Norks did not get their inspiration for this from our Israeli friends, who definitely would never hang the nuclear weapons they don’t have on their nice, shiny F-15’s. Instead, the Norks got the idea from Mathias Rust. If Rust had packed some sort of suitcase nuke, that crappy little Cessna would automatically have become a strategic bomber.

    Now let’s put on our thinking caps. With a strategic bomber force, King Little Fatso III would have the second leg of His Nork nuclear triad. The first: the land-based missile forces. He would not have a submarine-based nuclear force, of course. Not yet, anyway, but with patience, maybe He could get one from Iran or something. King Little Fatso III could then easily strike Tokyo and Seoul with at least two types of nuclear weapon delivery systems, of course, and Vladimir / Sergei would not care because Moscow is far out of range, at least so far. Hell, He could easily smack Vladivistok as well but because of its distance from Moscow, they probably don’t even know that they own it so Vladimir / Sergei don’t care. Now we get to my favorite rant topic here at OFK. With His magic Su-35 strategic bomber force, King Little Fatso III could also strike Beijing, His favorite patron and paymaster. Again, Vladimir / Sergei won’t mind because they will see this as some sort of lever / club against their dear Chinese friends. In this, they are stupid, of course, because

    1) if they think King Little Fatso III would not (in)directly hurt Russia’s interest(s), they don’t read One Free Korea

    2) later or sooner, military conflict probably and economic dislocation definitely will engulf what remains of Russia

    In a cynical way, I see this clearly paranoid thinking as hilarious because no one else addresses it. After all, reading through it, folks probably think I have major paranoia issues. Worse, though, the one stakeholder in the most danger and with the most to lose – China – can easily bring that danger to an end but instead does everything possible to preserve and prolong it. Objectively, it is NOT funny, but our Chinese friends simply don’t care.

  3. I forgot to add that based on my preceding comment, any detected flights of at least one Nork Su-35 would potentially mean that King Little Fatso III launched a nuclear strike . . .

  4. @King Little Fatso III launched a nuclear strike.

    The South already has measures in place if they detect a nuclear launch from the North anyway. They would immediately retaliate against targets in the North.

  5. The SU35 Flanker is an impressive airplane, but probably far too complex for the DPRK. They supposedly have a fleet of Mig29 Fulcrums, and it is questionable how airworthy they are. I think you’re right that it’s just an implied threat from Putinacious.

  6. Third world purchases by dictators who don’t know anything about military affairs. If North Korea really wanted to improve their airforce, they would concentrate on upgrading their existing Mig 29s and buying new simulators to try to keep their MIG pilots as sharps as they can b/c they can’t afford many hours in the air.

    The logistics are already in place for the Mig 29s, and they could sneak/workaround more easily around the sanctions in place than buy a new line of fighter jets.