In another sign that the West is losing geopolitical influence in East Asia, a North Korean ferry has completed its first cruise from Rajin port to Vladivostok, effectively defying the economic sanctions levied against it by Western economies.

Ferry service opens between N. Korea & Russia’s Vladivostok | RT News

18 May, 2017 00:25 Edited time: 18 May, 2017 07:16

A tourist ferry has completed its first cruise from the North Korean port of Rajin to the Russian city of Vladivostok. The route’s opening marks Pyongyang’s bid to develop trade and tourism ties with Russia amid growing tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Representatives of Chinese and Russian tourism companies were on board the ferry that arrived in Vladivostok on Thursday, RIA Novosti reports, citing the route operator. The first tourists on the first-ever passenger connection between the two countries are expected next week, it added.
The route’s launch is slated to “contribute to the development of regional tourism and bilateral trade,” the Russian consul general in the city of Chongjin, Yuriy Bochkarev, told TASS news agency.
The passenger ferry will make the trip four times a month. The Mangyongbong ferry is also said to carry up to 200 passengers and around 1,500 tons of cargo, according to TASS.
… Speaking in Beijing on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored the need “to return to dialogue with North Korea,” calling on world leaders to seek diplomatic solutions. He then stressed that Russia remains firmly opposed to the expansion of nuclear powers’ club with nukes on the Korean peninsula.
Following one of Pyongyang’s latest missile launches on Saturday, the UN Security Council threatened North Korea with a new raft of sanctions, urging it to suspend its nuclear and ballistic missile activity…

• https://www.rt.com/news/388760-ferry-service-north-korea-russia/

For this defiance, Russia will continue to suffer from its own set of EU sanctions that is forcing its industrial and agricultural sectors to grow organically in recent years, and from the cooperation of Asian countries, most notable of which is the $400 billion energy agreement with China.
Another factor that warrants attention is that in every Russian intervention, there is always that unique characteristics of it being decisive and sustained, such that the West is left murmuring in one corner in defeat.
The sheer size of the Eurasian economy and its population that are now asserting its true worth and power is putting the old paradigm where it should be. There’s no sense and value in confronting the emerging paradigm of win-win cooperation head on.
The Korean Peninsula will have its peace soon.