Russia and North Korea promise mutual help in case of attack

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement on Wednesday promising to help each other if either country faces “aggression.” This strategic pact comes at a time when conflicts between the two countries and the West are intensifying.

Details of the agreement were not immediately clear, but it could represent the strongest ties between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. Both leaders described it as a major upgrade of their relations in the areas of security, trade, investment, culture and humanitarian aid.

The summit took place as Putin visited North Korea for the first time in 24 years. The US and its allies also expressed growing concern about a possible arms deal under which Pyongyang would supply Moscow with much-needed munitions for the war in Ukraine. In return, Pyongyang would receive economic aid and technology transfers that could further increase the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.

Kim said the two countries had a “fiery friendship” and the agreement was their “strongest treaty ever,” putting the relationship on the level of an alliance. He vowed 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 that experts say required military intervention by Moscow in the event of an attack on the North. The treaty was scrapped after the collapse of the USSR and replaced in 2000 with a new one that offered weaker security guarantees. It was not immediately clear whether the new treaty provides a similar level of protection to the 1961 treaty.

Kim met Putin at the airport, where the two shook hands, hugged twice and rode together in a limousine. The huge motorcade rolled through the brightly lit streets of the capital, where buildings were decorated with giant Russian flags and portraits of Putin.

After spending the night in a state guesthouse, Putin was welcomed with a ceremony in the city’s main square on Wednesday morning. Tens of thousands of spectators were there, including children with balloons and people wearing the red, white and blue national colors of both countries. Crowds lining the streets chanted “Welcome, Putin” and waved flowers and flags.

Putin and Kim saluted before an honor guard and walked down a red carpet. Kim introduced key members of his leadership, including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, top adviser and ruling party secretary Jo Yong Won, and the ruler’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong.

During their talks, Putin thanked Kim for supporting North Korea in Ukraine. He described this support, among other things, as a “fight against the imperialist hegemonic policy of the United States and its satellite states towards the Russian Federation.”

Putin praised the ties, which he traced back to the Soviet army’s fight against the Japanese military on the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, as well as Moscow’s support for Pyongyang during the Korean War.

The type of support promised in the agreement was not specified. Kim has used similar language before, repeatedly saying that North Korea supports what he called a just measure to protect Russian interests and blaming the West’s “hegemonic policies” for the crisis.

North Korea is subject to severe sanctions by the UN Security Council because of its weapons program, and Russia also faces sanctions from the United States and its Western partners because of its invasion of Ukraine.

US and South Korean officials accuse the North of supplying Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment for use in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technology and aid. On Tuesday, a US State Department spokesman said Washington had observed in recent months how North Korea had “illegally transferred dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions to support Russia’s war effort.”

Both Pyongyang and Moscow deny allegations of arms deliveries, which would violate numerous UN Security Council sanctions that Russia had previously agreed to.

Together with China, Russia is also providing political protection for Kim’s efforts to expand his nuclear arsenal and has repeatedly blocked US-led efforts to impose new UN sanctions on him because of the North’s weapons tests.

In March, a Russian veto in the UN Security Council ended oversight of UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program. The West then accused Moscow of trying to avoid scrutiny by buying weapons from Pyongyang.

Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Pyongyang that the two leaders exchanged gifts after the talks. Putin presented Kim with a Russian-made Aurus limousine and other gifts, including a tea set and a naval officer’s dagger. Ushakov said Kim’s gifts to Putin also included a picture of the Russian leader.

Later, Putin and Kim attended a concert with marching soldiers, throwing weapons, dancing and patriotic songs. Putin clapped and spoke to Kim through an interpreter, saying something that made both of them laugh.

At a dinner ahead of Putin’s planned departure for Vietnam, he quoted a proverb that says “a close neighbor is better than a distant relative,” while Kim toasted the “immortality of the invincible relations between North Korea and Russia, which are the envy of the whole world.”

Putin had previously stated that the partnership would include not only security but also cooperation in the areas of politics, trade, investment, culture and humanitarian aid. He added that Russia would not rule out military-technical cooperation with North Korea.

The Kremlin’s website states that an agreement has also been signed to build a road bridge across the border, as well as another on cooperation in healthcare, medical education and science.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin’s visit to North Korea showed how Russia is “desperately trying to build and strengthen relationships with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression it started against Ukraine”.

Koo Byoungsam, spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which oversees inter-Korean affairs, said the government in Seoul was still interpreting the summit’s results, including how Russia might respond if the North were attacked.

China is North Korea’s biggest ally and economic lifeline, accounting for the majority of the country’s trade. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the high-level exchanges between Moscow and Pyongyang were “bilateral agreements between two sovereign states,” but did not give a specific assessment of the agreements.

Sam Greene of the Center for European Policy Analysis said Putin’s visit to Pyongyang was an indication of how committed he has become to other countries since the invasion of Ukraine. Until now, “it was always the North Koreans who came to Russia. It was not the other way around,” he said.

The trip was a good way to “make the West nervous” by showing that Moscow has interests and influence beyond Ukraine, Greene added.

The North may also seek to increase labor exports to Russia and other activities to earn foreign currency to circumvent UN sanctions, said the Institute for National Security Strategy, a South Korean intelligence think tank. There will likely be talks on expanding cooperation in agriculture, fishing and mining, as well as further promoting Russian tourism in North Korea, the institute said.

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.

Kim writes for the Associated Press.