Russia and North Korea ratify their defense treaty – Libération

This is a further step in collaboration between Russia and North Korea. The two countries ratified a historic defense treaty on Monday evening, November 11, according to the official North Korean agency KCNA, sealing their rapprochement in the context of the war led by Moscow in Ukraine. Concluded during a rare visit by Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang with Kim Jong-un in June, this agreement provides in particular “immediate military aid” reciprocal in the event of an attack against one of the two countries.

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

This treaty formalizes months of deepening security cooperation between the two countries, allies throughout the Cold War. According to kyiv, nearly 11,000 North Korean soldiers are already deployed in Russia. They are fighting in particular against the Ukrainians on Russian territory, in the Kursk region, a small part of which has been occupied by Ukrainian forces since August. The Kremlin has so far evaded questions about this presence of North Korean reinforcements.

“Sacred struggle”

“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.

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