After Putin’s meeting with Kim Jong Un, Russia agrees to immediately come to North Korea’s aid in the event of an attack

A new agreement between Russia and North Korea, agreed to by the two leaders, obliges the two countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event of war, North Korean state media reported.

The official Korean news agency reported on Thursday the text of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in Pyongyang on Wednesday. The agency said Article 4 of the agreement states that in the event of an invasion and a state of war, the other country must use “without delay all means at its disposal” to provide “military and other assistance.”

The agreement could mark the strongest ties between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War.

Both Kim and Putin described the move as a significant upgrade of their relations in the areas of security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties.

The summit came as the United States and its allies expressed growing concerns about a potential arms deal under which Pyongyang would supply Moscow with much-needed munitions for the war in Ukraine in return for economic aid and technology transfers that could exacerbate the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Following the summit, Kim said the two countries enjoyed a “fiery friendship” and the agreement was their “strongest treaty ever,” elevating the relationship to the level of an alliance.

He promised to fully support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Putin called it a “groundbreaking document” that reflected the shared desire to take relations to a higher level.

North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961 which, according to experts, required military intervention by Moscow in the event of an attack on the North.

The agreement was scrapped after the collapse of the USSR and replaced in 2000 by a new one that offered weaker security guarantees.

South Korean officials said they were still interpreting the summit’s results, including how Russia might respond in the event of an attack on the North and whether the new agreement would provide a similar level of protection as the 1961 treaty.

South Korean officials did not immediately comment on the North Korean report on the details of the agreement.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached their highest level in years. Kim’s weapons tests as well as the joint military exercises of the US, South Korea and Japan are increasing in a cycle of mutual insults.

The two Koreas also waged a Cold War-style psychological war, with North Korea throwing tons of garbage at the South using balloons and the South spreading anti-North Korean propaganda over loudspeakers.