Putin and Kim pledge support against “aggression”

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have signed an agreement pledging that Russia and North Korea will help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country. Putin said Russia and North Korea have ramped up ties to a “new level,” pledging to help each other if either nation is attacked in a “breakthrough” new partnership. The Russian president made the announcement following talks with Kim during a lavish visit to Pyongyang, his first since 2000.

The pact cements a rapidly blossoming partnership that has worried the West. It could also have significant ramifications for the world, say observers. Putin said joint drills involving the United States, South Korea, and Japan were “hostile” toward North Korea,” characterizing the US policy as “confrontational.” Kim, meanwhile, called the new “alliance” a “watershed moment in the development of the bilateral relations.”

The two leaders say they will help each other’s militaries. Putin linked military cooperation with North Korea to Western supplies of weapons to Ukraine, referring to high-precision weapons systems, warplanes and other high-tech weapons. “The Russian Federation does not exclude the development of military-technical cooperation with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in accordance with the document signed today,” Putin said.

That statement in effect formalizes what Western countries claim is already happening. The U.S. and other allies allege that Russia has received ballistic missiles and ammunition from North Korea as the Ukraine war depletes Moscow’s inventory, and that Russia has made technology transfers to Pyongyang that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

The deal between the two autocrats raised many questions, including whether Russia’s nuclear deterrent now extends to North Korea, and vice versa, or whether the two nations will now hold joint military drills.