As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops call the faithful to pray for religious freedom this week, the new alliance between Russia and North Korea is a reminder of the persistent threat to religious freedom in those countries.

“[Russia and North Korea] share a worldview with intolerance for freedom, for religious freedom in particular. And they hate the Western world primarily for these freedoms,” said Nina Shea, a senior fellow and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute.

Shea said Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox priests, except for those in union with the Moscow Patriarchate, have suffered persecution and even death for being perceived as “national security threats,” while North Korean Christians face a life of labor camps, torture and execution.

The Russian and North Korean leaders met four days after the end of the G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy, where leaders from the U.S., U.K., Japan, Italy, Germany and European Union “reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes” by agreeing to send finances to Ukraine and increase sanctions on more than 300 individuals and entities, as well as foreign banks conducting business with Russia’s war economy. 

Russia also has close ties with China, which Shea noted shares many of the same communist principles with North Korea. 

“They share a hatred of freedom and of the U.S.-led world order that’s been in place since the Second World War, which is based on principles of non-aggression and freedom and sovereignty as a nation state, and these nations are violating all these principles.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to provide each other with mutual aid should either country face “aggression” at a historic meeting in Pyongyang on June 19. 

“Both are not particularly rich countries. There’s starvation on a regular basis in North Korea, and whatever wealth they have, they put into weapons. And Putin is depleting his country's wealth through weapons and through this elective war he has taken on against Ukraine,” Shea said.

The meeting marked Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years. Putin thanked Kim Jong Un for his support of Russian policies, and Kim Jong Un voiced his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

“Putin’s goal is not only to get the artillery munition that he needs from North Korea but also to help North Korea get stronger and to build it as a bigger problem for the U.S. and its treaty allies in Japan and South Korea,” Alexander Gabuev, director at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said in a recent television broadcast of EWTN News Nightly.

While Western countries continue to refuse support to Russia, Putin met with Vietnamese President To Lam a day after meeting Kim Jong Un. The countries agreed to deepen their ties with each other.

In response to Putin and Kim Jong Un’s partnership, South Korea said it would consider sending weapons to Ukraine. South Korean President Yun Seok Yeol said in a statement the partnership violates the U.N. Security Council resolutions against aiding North Korea and threatens South Korea’s security. South Korea has previously provided Ukraine with non-lethal aid. 

The alliances between North Korea and Russia and Russia and China threaten not only the United States’ allies, but the United States itself. Shea told the Register her organization is monitoring the situation closely given the potential gravity: 

“There are people now, experts at the Hudson Institute, studying these issues who are already saying there is a real danger that the U.S. could be ruled someday by a new Chinese Communist Party-led empire if we don’t wake up and understand this is a new Cold War situation.” 

Gabuev told EWTN News Nightly that North Korea and Russia’s alliance could pose a threat to U.S. safety: “If Russia helps North Korea to develop missiles that can strike not only Guam, but the mainland territory of the U.S., that’s pretty scary, and the U.S. needs to develop tools to address that threat.”