ABSTRACT
North Korea's relations toward its communist allies can be viewed in terms of both long- and short-term foreign policy objectives or goals. The Soviet union already uses North Korea's warm water port facilities of Najin in accordance with a series of agreements aimed at promoting economic cooperation between North Korea and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union has been cool toward Pyongyang's public proposal in January 1984 for tripartite talks among Pyongyang, Seoul, and Washington. The Soviet Union has taken several visible measures towards easing tensions on the Korean peninsula. Soviet interest in the Korean peninsula is no longer limited to the small nation north of the Demilitarized Zone, and its strategy on the issue must also address all of Northeast and Southeast Asia and the Pacific as well. Soviet long-term interests are much more focused on China, Japan, and the United States than they are on a nation of less than 20 million.
