The “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty” agreed by the leaders of North Korea and Russia in June has come into force with the exchange of “ratification instruments” in Moscow, North’s KCNA news agency reported on Thursday.
The treaty was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June during a meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and includes a mutual defence pact for immediate military assistance if either faces armed aggression.
It “will serve as a strong driving force accelerating the establishment of independent and just multi-polarized world order without domination, subjugation and hegemony,” KCNA said.
Putin’s visit and the agreement on furthering military cooperation between the two countries came amid Pyongyang’s escalating involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, with more than 10,000 North Korean troops deployed to fight with Russia.
Neither country has acknowledged the deployment or the shipments of thousands of containers of ammunition from the North as well as mobile howitzers and rocket launchers.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian delegation led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is visiting South Korea last month to seek weapons aid from Seoul. Ukraine is seeking weapons to de Kyiv in its war with Russia, according to media reports.
The delegation had met with South Korea’s National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik to exchange views on the conflict in Ukraine, a South Korean news outlet reported on Wednesday, without giving a source.
The reports said Umerov stressed the need for advanced air defence systems in the face of intensified Russian attacks on infrastructure and also for more artillery ammunition.
Seoul, which has emerged as a leading arms producer, has been under pressure from some Western countries and Kyiv to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons but has so far focused on non-lethal aid including demining equipment.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, asked earlier this month whether Seoul would send weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea aiding Russia, said all possible scenarios were under consideration and Seoul would be watching the level of participation by North Korean soldiers in Russia and what Pyongyang received from Moscow in return.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
