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Russia, North Korea sign mutual defense pact
The agreement was sealed at a summit in Pyongyang during Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years as both countries face growing confrontations with the West.
In a news conference after the summit, Putin said the agreement, which he called “a truly breakthrough document,” reflected the two countries’ shared desire to raise relations to a new level — covering security, trade, investment, and cultural and humanitarian ties.
Putin also said Russia “does not rule out military-technical cooperation with the DPRK in connection with the treaty that was signed today”, referring to North Korea by its official name.
Kim said it was a peaceful agreement that elevated relations to an alliance.
Kim, who has been accelerating weapons testing and stoking tensions with US ally South Korea, on Wednesday promised his “full support” for what Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, which has triggered rafts of UN sanctions on Moscow.
Kim called Putin the “dearest friend of the Korean people”.
Putin, in turn, thanked his host Kim – whose country has been under a UN sanctions regime since 2006 over its weapons programs – saying Moscow appreciated the “consistent and unwavering” support.
Putin said the two heavily sanctioned countries would not tolerate Western “blackmail” and called for a review of UN sanctions on North Korea.
“The indefinite restrictive regime inspired by the US and its allies at the UN Security Council towards the DPRK should be reviewed,” Putin said.
Putin also said Moscow and Pyongyang were fighting “US hegemony” together and commended the North for its “balanced position” on Ukraine. “Today, we are fighting together against the hegemonism and neo-colonial practices of the United States and its satellites,” he said.
The two countries have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s war on Ukraine in 2022.
Officials in the West are concerned about weapons and intelligence sharing that could both help Putin’s army in Ukraine, and threaten the US and its allies in Asia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Russia was trying “in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine.”
He claimed that North Korea had been providing Russia with “significant munitions,” as well as other weapons for use in Ukraine.