The pact signed by Russia and North Korea is the strongest alliance since the Cold War.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, that promises mutual aid if either country faces «aggression,» a strategic pact that comes at a time when both face increasing threats from the West.
The details of the deal were unclear at first, however, marking the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War.
Both leaders described it as a major improvement in their relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian agreements.
The summit came as Putin visited North Korea for the first time in 24 years and the United States and its allies expressed growing concern about a possible arms deal in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with much-needed ammunition for its war in Ukraine,
in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could increase the threat posed by Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Kim said the two countries have a «very strong friendship» and that the agreement was the «strongest treaty in history,» putting the relationship at the level of an alliance. And he assured his full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Putin called it a «groundbreaking document» that reflects shared desires to take relations to a higher level.
North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961 that experts say would make Moscow’s military intervention stand if North Korea was attacked. The deal was scrapped after the collapse of the USSR, replaced by one in 2000 that offered weaker security guarantees. And for now, it was unclear whether the new agreement provides a level of protection similar to the 1961 treaty. What the current circumstances could do, it could be the same in terms of military cooperation or even superior in terms of scope.
Kim Jong Un met Putin at the airport, where the two shook hands, hugged twice, and were transported together in a limousine. The massive motorcade made its way through the capital’s illuminated streets, where buildings stood out decorated with giant Russian flags and portraits of Vladimir Putin.
Putin was greeted Wednesday morning at a ceremony in the city’s main square, filled with what appeared to be tens of thousands of spectators, children holding balloons and people wearing T-shirts in red, white and blue containing the flags of both countries. The crowds in the streets chanted «Welcome Putin» and among flowers and flags waved as the procession passed. Putin and Kim greeted the honor guard and walked the red carpet. Kim Jong Un introduced key members of his cabinet, including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui; the main advisor and secretary of the ruling party, Jo Yong Won; and the leader’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong.
In their talks, Putin thanked Kim Jong Un for North Korea’s support in Ukraine, part of what he said was a «struggle against the imperialist hegemonic policies of the United States and its satellites against the Russian Federation.»
Putin praised the ties that placed them in the Soviet army that fought the Japanese army on the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, and Moscow’s support for Pyongyang during the Korean War.
The kind of support to which they committed in the agreement was not detailed. However, the explanations of the agreement by Putin and Kim did not specify what the «mutual assistance» will be in the event of aggression against either country:
if they refer to the management in alliance in troops, material or some other type of support.
North Korea is under heavy U.N. Security Council sanctions over its weapons program, while Russia also faces sanctions from the United States and its Western partners over its invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. and South Korean officials accuse North Korea of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment for use in Ukraine, most likely in exchange for key technologies and military aid.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that, in recent months, Washington has seen North Korea «illegally transfer dozens of ballistic missiles and more than 11,000 containers of ammunition to aid Russia’s war effort.»
Kim Jong Un has used similar language before, consistently claiming that North Korea supports what he describes as a just action to protect Russia’s interests and blaming the crisis on the West’s «hegemonic policy.»
Both Pyongyang and Moscow deny allegations of arms transfers, which would violate multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions that Russia previously backed.
Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim Jong Un’s efforts to advance its nuclear potential, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose new U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its weapons tests.
Last March, a Russian veto in the Security Council ended oversight of U.N. sanctions against North Korea’s government over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is trying to avoid world scrutiny as it buys weapons from Pyongyang.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters in Pyongyang that the leaders of both countries exchanged gifts after the meetings. Putin presented Kim Jong Un with a Russian-made Aurus limousine among other gifts, including a tea set and a naval officer’s dagger.
Ushakov said Kim’s gifts to Putin included artwork depicting the Russian leader.
Later, Putin and Kim attended a concert in which soldiers marched, displayed weapons, danced and sang patriotic songs. Putin clapped his hands and spoke to Kim through a translator, saying something that made them both laugh. Perhaps a local joke.
Putin also visited the Temple of the Life-giving Trinity in Pyongyang and presented an icon of the Trinity to the Orthodox Church.
At the dinner before his departure for Vietnam, Putin quoted a Russian proverb that says «a close neighbor is better than a distant relative,» while Kim toasted the «immortality of the invincible relations between the People’s Republic of Korea and Russia that are the envy of the world.»
Is a new three-way alliance between China, Russia and North Korea being prepared?
Putin said the partnership would include cooperation in political, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian aspects, as well as regional security. He added that Russia does not rule out developing military-technical cooperation with North Korea.
The Kremlin’s website noted that they also signed an agreement to build a road bridge on their border, and another on cooperation in health care, medical education and science.
Putin said the partnership would include cooperation in political, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian aspects, as well as regional security. He added that Russia does not rule out developing military-technical cooperation with North Korea.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin’s visit to North Korea illustrates how Russia is trying, «in desperation, to develop and strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression it launched against Ukraine.»
Koo Byoungsam, a spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the Seoul government is still interpreting the summit’s results, including Russia’s response if North Korea is attacked.
China is North Korea’s biggest ally and economic backer, accounting for the majority of the country’s trade. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the high-level exchanges between Moscow and Pyongyang are «bilateral agreements between two sovereign states,» without giving a specific assessment of the agreements.
Sam Greene of the Center for European Policy Analysis said Putin’s trip to Pyongyang is an indication of how indebted he is to other countries since he invaded Ukraine.
The trip is a good way to make «the West nervous» by demonstrating that Moscow has interests and influence beyond Ukraine, Greene added.
North Korea could also seek to increase labor exports to Russia and other activities to obtain foreign currency in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
According to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s top spy agency. Talks are likely on expanding cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and mining and further promoting Russian tourism to North Korea, the institute said.
Right now tensions on the Korean peninsula are at their highest in years, with the pace of Kim Jong Un’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the United States, South Korea and Japan escalating in an escalation of tensions. Up to this point, the two Koreas have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare in which North Korea dropped tons of trash on South Korea with balloons, and South Korea broadcasts anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.
For the moment, the world is only watching, and it will be seen in the coming months, if this alliance becomes strategic and operational, implying not only diplomatic cooperation, but a joint response from the military point of view in an area that would have exceeded the instances of understanding between the nations that are now preparing for the Third World War, as well as mentioned in the debate on June 27, where the candidates for the presidency of the United States, Trump and Biden, accused each other of being responsible with their policies for leading the world into a third world war. And perhaps this is one of the answers to the strategic alliances between Moscow and Pyongyang.