“The Comprehensive Partnership Treaty signed today provides, among other things, for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against any part of the treaty,” Mr. Putin said from Pyongyang.
According to him, this agreement signed earlier with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is “a truly revolutionary document”.
Mr. Kim assured him that the treaty was purely “defensive”.
“This powerful treaty is nothing less than a truly constructive document, forward-looking, and exclusively peaceful and defensive,” he assured alongside Vladimir Putin, whom he described as “the best friend of the Korean people.
While North Korea maintains bellicose relations with its neighbors South Korea, Japan and the United States, Mr. Putin said that “Pyongyang has the right to take measures to ensure its security and defend its sovereignty.”
“Russia is ready to continue its diplomatic efforts to eliminate the threat of armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
He also stressed that Russia “does not rule out military-technical cooperation” with North Korea while both countries are under international sanctions.
The West is already accusing Moscow and Pyongyang of cooperating in this strategic area. According to them, North Korea delivers munitions to Russia for its assault on Ukraine and in return obtains assistance, particularly in the space sector.
Vladimir Putin also said he wanted to review the UN sanctions targeting Pyongyang because of its nuclear and ballistic weapons program, measures that Russia also voted for.
“The regime of restrictions of indefinite duration adopted by the United Nations Security Council with regard to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and inspired by the United States and its allies must be re-examined,” ruled the president Russian in front of the press.
Since Mr. Putin launched his troops to attack Ukraine in February 2022, Russia and North Korea have carried out an accelerated rapprochement based, according to them, on the need to oppose international hegemony of the United States, a country presented as an existential enemy.
The Russian president finally invited Kim Jong Un to visit Moscow. The North Korean leader recently visited the Russian Far East twice, in April 2019 and September 2023.
The two leaders attended a concert together on Wednesday in Pyongyang.
