The Russia-North Korea "Aggression" Pact

This episode explores a new defense agreement between Russia and North Korea, emphasizing its implications for global security.

1. The pact represents a significant escalation in military and strategic cooperation between two nations often isolated on the global stage.
2. North Korea stands to benefit from Russian missile technologies and economic resources, potentially enhancing its military capabilities.
3. Russia is likely to receive military supplies from North Korea, aiding its ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
4. The agreement poses new challenges for global security, especially for the United States and its allies in East Asia.
5. The durability of this alliance may depend on the continuing strategic benefits to both nations.

1. Introduction

Host Brad Milke introduces the episode's topic, the new defense pact between Russia and North Korea. Brad Milke: "It's Thursday, June 20. Vladimir Putin wants guns and he wants nukes. We start here."

2. The Pact's Significance

Discussion on the strategic implications of the Russia-North Korea pact and its potential impact on global security. Colonel Stephen Ganyard: "That is bad news for the rest of the world."

3. Military and Economic Implications

Exploration of the military and economic exchanges under the pact, including technology transfer and market access. Colonel Stephen Ganyard: "Kim needs access to markets...and the ability to project power reliably."

4. Global Reactions and Concerns

Analysis of the international response to the pact, particularly the concerns of the U.S. regarding the enhanced missile capabilities of North Korea. Colonel Stephen Ganyard: "Anytime you have a country that has the ambitions that Kim has to create an ability to project nuclear power, that is bad news for the rest of the world."

1. Stay informed about global political alliances that could impact international stability.
2. Support policies and initiatives that promote global disarmament and non-proliferation.
3. Encourage diplomatic engagement and dialogue to mitigate tensions.
4. Advocate for strict enforcement of international sanctions against countries violating international laws.
5. Participate in or support organizations working towards global peace and security.

Vladimir Putin visits North Korea to sign a weapons agreement with Kim Jong Un. The House Ethics Committee furthers its investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. And Olympic swimmers express concern over swimming in Paris’ Seine River.

People

Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Colonel Stephen Ganyard, Brad Milke

Content Warnings:

None

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Brad Milke
It's Thursday, June 20. Vladimir Putin wants guns and he wants nukes. We start here.

The leaders of Russia and North Korea strike a deal in Pyongyang.

Colonel Stephen Ganyard
That is bad news for the rest of the world.

Brad Milke
Why? The US is concerned about a new pact between its adversaries. His former associate went to prison. Now a witness is pointing the finger.

Will Steakin
At Matt Gaetz, looking into some of the more explosive allegations behind the scenes.

Brad Milke
Of a congressional ethics probe. And for a century, it's been too toxic to swim. So why are olympic athletes the guinea pigs?

Inez de la Cuetara
So there's no plan b?

Paris Olympics Official
No plan b. We don't need a plan b. We just need the good weather.

Brad Milke
Everything flows downstream, even in Paris.

From ABC News, this is start here. I'm Brad Milke.

Whenever we talk about North Korea, we talk about how isolated it is, shunned from the world economy through sanctuary. Families in South Korea separated by a demilitarized zone. People who go to Pyongyang talk about stepping into what feels like a different century. But when you look at a map, you remember North Korea does border other countries beyond South Korea. There's China, of course, its comrade in communism for so many years. And then way off in a corner, it also shares a tiny border with Russia.

Well, this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Pyongyang to shake hands with the supreme leader there, Kim Jong un, and sign a defense pact formally linking these two us adversaries together. Let's go to Colonel Stephen Ganyard, formerly of the US Marines and State Department, now an ABC news contributor. Colonel Ganyard, we don't have a ton of details, it sounds like, on the deal itself yet, but do we have a sense of how significant it might be for these nations to come together in this way?

Colonel Stephen Ganyard
Yeah, Brad, I don't think that we're going to see any details because the Russians and the North Koreans really don't want the rest of the world to know what they're really doing. But I think we can deduce that we've seen shipments of artillery shells, numerous ships from North Korea to Russia. And so we know that Vladimir Putin is experiencing a defense drought in terms of production, and he needs lots of artillery shells for his war against the Ukrainians. And so that is something that the North Koreans can provide. Now, the kind of military equipment that North Koreans have is quite crude. It's not really up to even what were russian standards at the time, but it is something that Putin needs, and perhaps he'll also get some commandos or something out the North Koreans. But there are all sorts of things that Putin needs to help him fight his war in Ukraine.

Brad Milke
The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today provides, among other things, for the provision of mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this document.

Colonel Stephen Ganyard
On the other side, Kim needs lots of things, too. He needs access to markets. And while Russia has been sanctioned, it still has better access to capital markets and to be able to move money around than North Korea does. North Korea also treasures the Russians ability to build rockets, and we know that Kim has been trying to perfect his long range, medium range, and intermediate range nuclear missiles. So the ability to project power reliably, that's the whole key here. We'll see that Kim will often shoot two or three rockets, and maybe the first two or three will fail, and maybe the third or last will work. But in terms of being able to threaten another country, you have to have reliability. And so that's something that Kim wants from the Russians. And although it's difficult to say, we have seen that nefarious intelligence analysts have said that they've seen the hand of russian scientists and russian technologies and some of the more recent, newer north korean missiles that have been launched. So that kind of technology is very, very valuable. Also the ability to get to russian oil, russian natural resources, all those things that Mister Kim needs, because North Korea doesn't have. So it's really a marriage of convenience. But like all marriage of conveniences, it's only as deep as and as long as the convenience lasts.

Brad Milke
Yeah. It's interesting that we often think of North Korea as relying on everyone else for everything. But in this case, Russia is always slow. Like, you guys are really good at producing small arms, and we need them right now. But when you talk about the north korean nuclear program and the rockets that they might be getting from Russia, what's the us response like? Should we be worried in the US?

Colonel Stephen Ganyard
I suppose I think we should be worried, but there's really not much we can do about it here. These are two pariahs.

We really have no diplomatic means of influencing either country we've sanctioned the heck out of both of them and still hasn't done much.

Anytime you have a country that has the ambitions that Kim has to create an ability to project nuclear power, to have the kind of reliable rocketry that's going to allow him to deliver the nuclear weapons that he has delivered, that is bad news for the rest of the world. It's bad news for Northeast Asia, for South Korea, for Japan, for Taiwan, but particularly for the US. If Kim begins to be able to demonstrate very consistently reliable long range icbm capabilities, that's bad for the US, that's bad for the rest of the world.

Brad Milke
An unsettling moment here, as you have countries that are so often regarded as pariahs by the rest of the world sort of linking up and saying, hey, we'll do our thing together then. All right. Colonel Stephen Ganyard, thank you so much.

Colonel Stephen Ganyard
Thanks, Brett.

Brad Milke
When former President Donald Trump was on trial in New York City, there was this coterie of Trump allies making their way to lower Manhattan to show their support. Some speculated this was kind of a litmus test for Republicans, especially for anyone that wanted to be his running mate. And among these faces was Florida congressman Matt Gates.

Matt Gaetz
No other american in the country would be charged with this type of crime. It's like the Mister potato head doll.

Brad Milke
Of crimes, you know, Gates youngish guy, 42 years old, big scoop of hair, gleaming white teeth, and an unapologetic ravelrouser in the House.

Matt Gaetz
And I think it's telling me, I think it's telling that you got plans for pronouns and you got plans for misinformation. But when it comes to the plan to remove the people that have had due process, you don't have one at all.

Brad Milke
There wasn't much talk of him as a VP pick, though. For one, he's almost as Trumpy as Trump himself. So you're not bringing extra voters into the fold. But perhaps more importantly, because Gates had himself been linked to potential legal trouble.

Matt Gaetz
Word is, I now have problems with the ethics committee.

Brad Milke
Well, this week we learned about significant developments in the House ethics committee's continuing probe indicates homing in on allegations that he's paid for sex. ABC's will stake and covers the hill. He's been examining this case for months. Will, can you get me caught up here? Like, how did this start?

Will Steakin
Yeah, let's go back in time a little bit here. So sources have told us that Gaetz was under investigation from the Justice Department for about three years. Now. That probe stemmed from a separate investigation into Congressman Gates former friend this local Florida tax collector named Joel Greenberg, who's currently serving prison time for pleading guilty to a litany of charges, including sex trafficking, a minor. Now, Greenberg cooperated with DOJ, flipped, essentially, and cooperated against what we're told social said Matt Gaetz and others in order to get a lighter sentence, making a litany of allegations, including that the congressman had sex with a minor. Gates has denied this from the beginning, since the story broke in 2001, I believe. And in 2023, the DOJ informed Gaes that after years of looking into this, speaking to numerous witnesses, they would not bring charges against him. Now fast forward to now.

During that time, ethics had paused its own investigation into the congressman while the DOJ kind of ran its course onto its own probe. They just released this statement now kind of officially announcing that they have resumed this work. Looking into Gates.

Colonel Stephen Ganyard
Yeah.

Brad Milke
What is the latest on this House ethics investigation? Because that's where what you've been talking to your sources about recently.

Will Steakin
Yeah. So this week, the committee made this pretty unprecedented move and gave this lengthy update on their probe in a statement, saying, you know, they've basically issued 25 subpoenas, they've talked to a dozen witnesses, they reviewed thousands of pages of documents. And the committee said, this bipartisan committee, which is led by Republicans, they said that there's reason to continue looking into some of the more explosive allegations, including sexual misconduct, drug use, while also saying that over the course of their work for the past few years, they're gonna drop some of the other allegations, including showing inappropriate videos on the House floor.

Brad Milke
In a tweet Monday, Gates saying, in part, every investigation into me ends the same way. My exoneration.

Will Steakin
Now, what sources have told ABC News is behind closed doors. The committee has been really busy in recent weeks and months. The statement said they've interviewed over a dozen witnesses. We've learned that almost half of those witnesses were actually women, young women who were involved in that DOJ probe and had talked to the federal investigators in that probe. And we've been told is they're being shown Venmo records, which the committee obtained, Gates's own Venmo records, asking these witnesses whether these payments were for sex, whether they're for drugs. And sources have told us that one woman told the committee that one of those payments from Gates was for sex.

Brad Milke
Oh, so then that's like direct implication from this one person then, will, what's the significance of having that testimony from that witness?

Colonel Stephen Ganyard
Yeah.

Will Steakin
So what we know right now is that sources have said that this one woman has said that she was paid for sex. But other women, sources have said, have told the committee behind closed doors that they were paid to attend parties with Gates that featured drugs, that featured sex parties, which the committee is now going to be looking into further moving forward. And that's essentially what this ethics committee is looking at. They're trying to figure out how much evidence there is that Congressman Gates was involved in this situation in central Florida and whether there was sexual misconduct while he was a member of Congress.

Brad Milke
Well, okay, so then you said Gates has basically denied any of this. Right, just top to bottom denial. What? I mean, what could be next year?

Will Steakin
Yeah. Again, Gates has continuously, over a number of years, denied allegations, including whether or not he's ever paid for sex.

Matt Gaetz
And they can even try to expel me on if they want. But this is a movement that the uniparty cannot kill.

Will Steakin
He has said that his enemies are using his generosity towards girlfriends and whether or not he paid for trips for girlfriends against him. Again, denied any allegations of having sex with a minor. What we don't know is what's next.

The ethics committee says in their statement they're going to continue looking into these claims. After that investigation, lawmakers can recommend kind of a litany of actions, including either censuring the congressman, expulsion, or they can decide outright. Maybe we find there's not enough evidence to release any kind of recommendation. It's kind of wait and see now until there's a next update.

Brad Milke
Well, and the reality at this point on the hill is that Gates is loathed by as many Republicans as he is Democrats. In fact, he's said that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is out to get him here with his allies in the House ethics committee will stake in covering all this. Thank you so much.

Will Steakin
Thanks, Brad.

Brad Milke
Next up on start here. It's not a river in Egypt. It's in Paris. Why Olympic organizers might be in denial after the break, you ever feel pulled in a million different directions? Like, I'm barely keeping it together on a regular day, let alone on a busy news day. You certainly don't have time for tedious business y tasks like getting your shipping in order or setting up a mailing. Well, on that front, at least, stamps.com quote s got you covered. Post.com mobile app is like a post office that works 24/7 you can get everything organized no matter where you are, from the office to the beach or anywhere in between. To get shipping done, all you need is a computer and a printer. They will even send you a free scale to deal with all the postage and when you set up those shipments, you can automatically see the cheapest rates from four different carriers. Put more life into your work life balance with stamps.com dot sign up with promo code start for a special offer that includes a four week trial, plus free postage and a free digital scale. No long term commitments or contracts. Just go to stamps.com comma click the microphone at the top of the page and enter the code start.

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Brad Milke
When you think of Paris, there's perhaps no more romantic, iconic landmark than the river Seine. It winds through the city of Light, past the cathedral of Notre Dame under the Pont des Arts, the bridge that sags beneath the weight of thousands of engagements. Until recently, literal locks of love makes me want to get a baguette and a beret just thinking about it. Which is why when organizers at the Paris Olympics were planning the triathlons and the open water swimming events, they figured, what better place than the Seine itself?

The only problem is swimming in the Seine has been banned for a century because it's so disgusting.

Inez de la Cuetara
What happens if the Seine isn't ready, if the water quality isn't good enough by the Olympics.

Paris Olympics Official
I really want to assure that we have made everything possible.

Brad Milke
This was all supposed to change. But recently, athletes themselves have started expressing concerns, and ABC's Inez de la Quitera got an exclusive interview with a member of Team USA saying, please don't make me go in there. Inez joins us now from Paris. Tell me ain't so Inez. The Seine stinks. How dirty are we talking here?

Inez de la Cuetara
Oh, sure, Brad. Yes, it's, it's terrible. So, like you mentioned, swimming in the Seine has been banned for 100 years because of how gross it is, because of the poor water quality. And there have been so many Paris officials and french presidents over the years who have promised to clean it up to make it swimmable. No one's ever managed it. So it's been this kind of impossible dream for Parisians.

And now with the Olympics being held in Paris, you do have city officials who've decided to use the Olympics as an opportunity to finally make that dream a reality. So there's been, obviously, lots of skepticism amongst Parisians, but officials have spent pretty much eight years and $1.5 billion to try to clean up the river. And they're hoping to hold triathlon and open water Olympic events in the Seine this summer.

Brad Milke
What makes it so dirty and how, I guess, how do you clean it up?

Inez de la Cuetara
Yeah, so the big issue is really the sewage system and heavy rain.

So the way the sewage system works in Paris is if there are heavy rains, that causes these sewage to overflow into the Seine.

And that's what causes high levels of bacteria, high levels of E. Coli, specifically. And so Paris officials are really, you know, pointing to two big things to help them out here. They're hoping for nice weather because sunlight can act as a disaster. The uv rays can kill the bacteria.

And I will say there was one day last summer, last August, where they were able to hold triathlon test events in the Seine.

Paris Olympics Official
So for us, it's the best demonstration that the work done so far is very positive.

Inez de la Cuetara
But the issue is, of course, if it rains, what happens then? So they have poured tons of money into infrastructure. They've built this massive underwater tank that can hold the equivalent of up to 20 Olympic swimming pools. And the thinking is that if the sewage overflows, then the water would go into that tank. The tank would hold that water for the duration of the Olympic events. Then they would treat the water, then release it into the Seine. But that tank, for now, hasn't yet been used. So it's. It's, you know, it's untested. It's unclear if it'll actually do the job well.

Brad Milke
So how's that going? Cause it sounds like you've been, like, we're starting to hear from athletes that are like, I'm not sold on this.

Inez de la Cuetara
That's right. Yeah. Especially in the last few weeks, because other test events have been canceled. I spoke to a scientist who was telling me that, you know, he's been testing the water every day since April, and there hasn't been a single day where the water quality was good enough to swim. And so I did reach out.

Brad Milke
They've been testing this. They've been testing this every day, and, like, since April. We're just hoping that it'll be okay by July, basically.

Inez de la Cuetara
That's right. And according to this company. So this is Dan Angeles Fluidian, which is a company that tests, you know, massive bodies of water and water quality. He says there hasn't been a single day since April when the water quality has been good enough to swim in.

So athletes are getting worried, you know, and we've heard from other athletes. So there was this one brazilian swimmer who spoke out a couple months ago about how she wants to see officials come up with a plan b. The water quality, not be safe enough to swim in.

Ivan Puskovich
The safety of the athletes has to come first.

Inez de la Cuetara
So I did speak to Ivan Puskovich, who is an American who recently qualified to compete in the open water category.

Ivan Puskovich
It's definitely a big point of anxiety for me, especially since this is my.

Inez de la Cuetara
First games, and he certainly voiced frustrations with the plan.

Ivan Puskovich
My biggest fear with regard to the Seine is that we suddenly find ourselves a few days out from the event and realize, oh, and the organizers say, okay, this actually isn't going to be able to happen because of the water quality.

Inez de la Cuetara
He wasn't as concerned about his health. He's worried he's not going to be able to compete because his event is being held on August 9. The closing ceremonies are being held on August 11.

Ivan Puskovich
I would rather compete at the Olympics and have it be in a place that isn't the sen than not be able to compete at all, because the Sen was the only option, you know?

Inez de la Cuetara
And so he says, I've spent my whole life training for this moment, and I may not be able to compete because of this whole issue.

Brad Milke
Well, yeah, I mean, what happens if, if either it rains and it's disgusting, or what happens if athletes do start refusing? Like, is there any sort of plan B here?

Inez de la Cuetara
Yeah. So what athletes have been told is that the events might be delayed. And we've heard this from Paris officials as well, that if it does rain, if the sewage does overflow into the Seine and the water quality isn't good enough to swim in, they might delay events by a couple days.

Paris Olympics Official
And if we need to change the date, one or two days, here we are 99% confident to organize the competition.

Inez de la Cuetara
So there's no plan B?

Paris Olympics Official
No, no plan B. We don't need a plan B. We just need a good weather.

Inez de la Cuetara
I will say Paris officials are adamant that this will work. They say they've spent years, you know, $1.5 billion trying to make this work, and they themselves have promised to swim in the Seine.

The Paris mayor, Ann Hidalgo, who's promised to swim her own dip, had to be delayed because the water quality.

Brad Milke
She's going in, then she's going in.

Inez de la Cuetara
She was already supposed to go in in June. That was then delayed. It was pushed back to, I believe it was July 11. Now it's going to be held July 15, so she swears she's going to swim. The french president has also promised to swim in the Seine, so they are, you know, adamant that this will work and we'll have to see.

Brad Milke
What a mess. I guess it's been a mess for a century, but now the rest of the world gets to see how it's dealt with in real time. Weeks to go before the Olympics. Nez de la quitera there in Paris. Thank you.

Inez de la Cuetara
Thanks, Brad.

Brad Milke
Okay, one more quick break. It's the longest day of the year, and perhaps the most confusing, too. One last thing is next.

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And one last thing.

Across much of the country, it sure feels like summer. But technically, summer doesn't arrive until the solstice, the longest day of the year. Most years that phenomenon takes place on the twilight, 21 June. But this year it's happening today. Houston, Texas, is about to have 14 hours of daylight. New York will have 15 hours, Seattle 16. And up in Anchorage, Alaska, tonight, the sun will finally set at 11:42 p.m. is there a moment of the day today when we get the most solsticey?

Adam Frank
We will be maximally solstilicious at, I think it's like around 04:00 p.m. eastern time. That's when the the spin axis will be most perfectly aligned with the line that connects us to the sun.

Brad Milke
That's Adam Frank, professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester, who says, remember, the summer solstice doesn't mean we're closer to the sun. It means our north pole, which is always kind of on a tilt, will be pointing most directly toward the sun.

Adam Frank
The summer and winter have nothing to do with how close to the sun is. And it's amazing because, you know, there was this movie one time where they asked Harvard graduates this question at graduation, and like, half of them got it wrong.

Brad Milke
All this to say, this evening you will officially be in summertime. This is the earliest summerist hit since 1796, when George Washington was president. Why is that? Why is it so early this year? June 21, I thought, was supposed to be summer.

Adam Frank
The thing is, the year doesn't divide equally into days. There's 365.25 days in a year, which means that over time, where things occur in the calendar shift back and forth.

Brad Milke
What he's saying is, you might be forgetting this year was a leap year. Right. The sun doesn't know we had February 29, so it's doing its thing, unaware that our solstice seems almost a full day early to us. Next year it'll be later, a little bit more normal, feeling along with the year after that, until a leap year pushes it all up again.

Adam Frank
That's why the summer solstice will flip back and forth between June 20 and June 21.

Brad Milke
But here's the crazy thing I did not understand until now. See, adding a leap year doesnt quite do the trick. Like it actually overcorrects just a tad. And as a result, solstices get a little earlier every four years at 04:00 p.m. then its 330, then its three. And to make the system continue to line up with the sun, calendar makers long ago settled on these little exception days once every century or two. Where we dont have a leap year, the next one of those is in the year 2100, which means will skip the leap year, and the quadrennial solstice will finally go back to June 21, where it belongs. Order will be restored, as it is for today. Enjoy June 20, the latest sunset of the year. You still got a few more hours of springtime left.

The other thing I always want to ask is, like, why isn't the solstice the hottest day of the year? Because we're pointing closer to the sun, right? Well, duh. It turns out, yes, the angle of the sun heats up to northern hemisphere. But like any heat source, like a radiator, it takes a while before the heat spreads around the room. So that's why it gets hotter and hotter over the next couple months. I could have figured this out, but we had the astronomer on the line. You know, I'm Brad Nilke. I'm off for a few days, so I'll catch you next week. But the great Anne Flaherty will be here, and I bet she already knew why summer gets hot. I'll see you later.

Inez de la Cuetara
In the 1980s, everyone wanted to be in the brat pack except them. Now director Andrew McCarthy reunites with fellow brats Demi Moore. Why did we take it as an offense as opposed to like brat because we were young. We're afraid we were bratz, you know? Amelia Westevez, Ali Sheedy, Rob Lowe.

Brad Milke
I'm not gonna say we were the Beatles or anything.

Colonel Stephen Ganyard
Well, we didn't film Shay Stadium 1985.

Brad Milke
I think we could have the original.

Inez de la Cuetara
Documentary grads, now streaming only on Hulu.