Birds of a feather certainly flock together.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un recently pledged that his country would “unconditionally support” Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This isn’t a new development. The “bromance” between Kim and Putin has been blossoming since 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2024, both countries signed a mutual defense pact. Moreover, their authoritarian flock includes other notorious actors like China’s Xi Jinping and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Together, China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea (CRINK) represent an axis that seeks to undermine American power and impose their own authoritarian vision around the globe.
As detailed annually by Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report, this rogue’s gallery is also responsible for incredible human suffering as they clamp down on political rights and civil liberties within their countries (and through transnational repression, beyond their borders). Simply put, CRINK represents a global order that is incompatible with American values and interests.
And when it comes to North Korea bolstering the Russian war effort, it has been anything but unconditional. In return for the estimated 10,000 or more troops Pyongyang has already provided Putin, the Kim regime receives political and material support, very likely including high-end military technology. This amplifies Kim’s ability to threaten American allies like South Korea and Japan. It also potentially boosts Pyongyang’s illicit weapons program and its ability to strike targets within the United States with long-range intermediate ballistic missiles. To state the obvious, it’s a nightmare scenario for American economic and security interests.
The Pyongyang-Moscow alliance is just one example of how the CRINK alliance threatens American values and global influence. Washington should be invested in a comprehensive strategy that collectively weakens the autocrats who lead CRINK. Doing so will protect our national security, ensure that American businesses have unfettered and fair access to foreign markets, and promote freedom that creates a more predictable, stable world.
The Bush Institute released policy recommendations in January providing the Trump Administration and Congress with ideas for collectively tackling the CRINK challenge:
- Ensure that human rights are part of an integrated strategy to address the comprehensive challenge posed by CRINK.
- Enforce strategic tools (like targeted sanctions) that penalize human rights abusers.
- Strengthen America’s democratic alliances around the vision of integrating human rights and security in the fight against CRINK
- Empower democratic advocates from CRINK to unite around their shared struggle for freedom.
Now is time to take action to ensure that the CRINK threat is not allowed to grow any further.
