Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with North Korea in June which provides for “immediate military assistance” in the event of armed aggression.
Dmitry Peskov in Moscow, Russia, May 23, 2024. (POOL/YURI KOCHETKOV)
As tensions continue to rise between the two Koreas, the Kremlin recalled on Tuesday October 15 that Russia and North Korea were linked by a “clear” mutual defense pact.
“The wording of the treaty does not require any clarification, it is clear”
declared Dmitri Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, when asked about the possibility of Russia’s involvement in the event of an open armed conflict between the two Koreas.
The North Korean army on Tuesday dynamited sections of roads formerly used for cross-border trade with South Korea, according to Seoul, which said it had carried out “response fire”, a new episode in the rise in tensions between the two countries.
One of Russia’s deputy foreign ministers, Andrei Rudenko, accused the South Koreans of
“provocation which seriously compromises the stability of the peninsula and aggravates tensions”
. The official called the ongoing escalation a “very dangerous development.” “We think it is time to put an end to it,” he said, quoted by Russian news agencies.
“Immediate military assistance”
Russia and North Korea have grown significantly closer since Moscow launched an offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, forging an anti-Western alliance.
Pyongyang is notably accused by the West of supplying quantities of shells and missiles to the Russian army and by kyiv of sending men there.
This strengthening of relations was illustrated by the visit to Pyongyang in June of the Russian president and the signing of a strategic partnership treaty which provides in its article 4
“immediate military assistance” in the event of armed attack
.
“The most important thing is that this treaty provides for a strategic partnership in all areas, including the field of security,” Dmitri Peskov stressed on Tuesday. The treaty does not specify whether North Korea benefits from Russia’s nuclear umbrella.
Vladimir Putin, speaking in September of the revision of the Russian doctrine on the conditions of use of the atomic bomb, did not mention his North Korean ally, unlike Belarus, another neighboring country, which was explicitly named .
