North Korea says Putin, Kim Jong-un reached agreement for immediate military aid in case of war

Kim Dong-hyung, The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — New agreement Russia and North Korea North Korean state media reported on Thursday that the agreement reached by the two leaders at a summit in Pyongyang calls for both countries to provide immediate military assistance using all available means in the event of war.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin both said Wednesday’s deal was a major upgrade in bilateral ties covering security, trade, investment, culture and humanitarian relations, and outside observers said it could mark the closest ties between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported the language of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement on Thursday. The agency said Article 4 of the agreement stipulates that if one of the countries is invaded and falls into a state of war, the other country must provide “military and other assistance” by “deploying all available means without delay.”

As Kim Jong-un and Putin hold summit, the United States and its allies say Growing concerns Pyongyang may provide Moscow with much-needed arms to meet its Ukraine WarIn exchange for economic aid and technology transfers, which could enhance the threat posed by Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.

After the summit, Kim Jong-un said the two countries had a “burning friendship” and that the agreement was the “strongest treaty ever” between the two sides, raising their relationship to the level of an alliance. He vowed to fully support Russia in its war in Ukraine. Putin called it a “breakthrough document” that reflected the common desire of both sides to elevate relations to a higher level.

North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961 that experts say obliged Moscow to intervene militarily if North Korea was attacked. The agreement was scrapped after the Soviet Union collapsed and replaced with a 2000 pact that provides weaker security guarantees.

After Kim and Putin met, South Korean officials said they were still interpreting the summit’s outcome, including how Russia would respond if North Korea was attacked and whether the new agreement promised the same level of protection as the 1961 treaty. As of Thursday morning, South Korean officials had not commented on North Korean reports of details of the agreement.

“As of now, we cannot tell you specific information,” Lee Kyung-ho, a spokesman for Seoul’s Defense Ministry, said at a briefing when asked whether he believed Russia had implemented automatic military inventions on behalf of North Korea in the event of war.

The agreement came as Putin made his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, a visit that showcased both personal and geopolitical ties as Kim Jong Un twice embraced him at the airport, drove his motorcade past giant Russian flags and Putin portraits and held a welcoming ceremony in Pyongyang’s main square attended by tens of thousands of spectators.

The agreement also stipulates that Pyongyang and Moscow must not reach agreements with third parties that infringe on the “core interests” of other countries, nor engage in actions that threaten these interests, according to KCNA.

The agreement calls for the countries to take steps and develop joint measures to strengthen national defense capabilities, prevent war and protect regional and global peace and security, KCNA said, without specifying what those measures were or whether they included joint military training and other cooperation.

The agreement also calls on countries to actively cooperate in efforts to build a “new world order that is just and multipolar,” KCNA said, highlighting how countries can ally in the face of an escalating one-on-one confrontation with the United States.

In recent months, Kim has made Russia his top priority, pursuing a foreign policy aimed at expanding ties with countries that are antagonistic to Washington, embracing the idea of ​​a “new Cold War” and trying to present a united front in Putin’s broader conflict with the West.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have reached their highest point in years, with Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong-un Weapons tests and joint military exercises The tit-for-tat situation between the United States, South Korea and Japan is intensifying.

The two Koreas have also engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare, with North Korea using balloons to drop tons of trash on South Korea and South Korea using loudspeakers to blast anti-North Korean propaganda.

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