North Korea ratifies defense treaty with Russia

North Korea has ratified a historic defense agreement with Russia, sealing their rapprochement in the context of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the official North Korean agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.

The agreement “was ratified in the form of a decree” signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday, KCNA said. Russian President Vladimir Putin also signed this mutual defense treaty, the Kremlin announced this weekend.

Concluded during a rare visit by Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang in June, this treaty between these two countries, the bane of the United States, provides in particular “immediate military aid” reciprocal in the event of an attack against one of the two countries.

According to kyiv, some 11,000 North Korean soldiers are already deployed in Russia and have started fighting against the Ukrainians on Russian territory, in the Kursk region, a small part of which has been occupied by Ukrainian forces on the offensive since August. The Kremlin has so far evaded questions about this presence of North Korean reinforcements.

The agreement formalizes months of deepening security cooperation between the two countries, allies throughout the Cold War.

“Pyongyang and Moscow will claim the legitimacy of the deployment of the North Korean army in Russia and affirm that this action is justified by the treaty ratified between the two parties”anticipates Hong Min, of the Institute for National Unification, established in South Korea, “even if their treaty does not overturn UN resolutions prohibiting such cooperation”.

According to the expert, the ratifications of the treaty suggest “additional and potentially larger deployments” of North Korean soldiers in Russia.

Moscow and Pyongyang have grown significantly closer since Russia’s attack on Ukraine began in 2022.

The agreement also commits the two countries to cooperate internationally to oppose Western sanctions and coordinate their positions at the United Nations.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui recently visited Moscow where she said her country “would stand firmly with Russian comrades until Victory Day”. She described the offensive against Ukraine as “sacred struggle”.