The mutual defense pact between Russia and North Korea is essentially a modern revival of a 1961 treaty between the Soviet Union and North Korea.
Historically, North Korea used the breakdown of Sino-Soviet relations to its advantage by playing off each side against one another, while being increasingly isolated on the world stage in the 1980s.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin's Russia favored improved relations with South Korea, leaving China as North Korea's only de facto ally.
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