North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to \u201cunconditionally support\u201d Russia in its invasion of Ukraine at talks with President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang that emphasized deepening ties amid US concerns about arms supplies to the Kremlin\u2019s war machine.<\/p>\n
The two leaders signed a deal Wednesday to come to the other\u2019s aid if attacked, rekindling an agreement dating back to the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was the main backer for Pyongyang. Kim said the agreement elevated relations with Russia to an alliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to stress that the birth of this treaty, the most powerful treaty in the history of North Korea-Russia relations, was possible thanks to President Putin\u2019s outstanding foresightedness and bold determination,\u201d Kim said at a news briefing after the talks.<\/p>\n
While Kim added the military deal is for defensive purposes, it raises the risks for the US and its partners in responding to provocations from Moscow and Pyongyang and is a symbol of their defiance against Western powers.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia hasn\u2019t been an active player in Asia for a long time, both militarily and diplomatically. But its upgraded and comprehensive relationship with North Korea means that Asia has now quickly woken up to a threat by another big power,\u201d said Duyeon Kim, a Seoul-based adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. \u201cAn inadvertent conflict based on miscalculation could potentially escalate to a regional or world war.\u201d <\/p>\n
The accord was signed during the Russian leader\u2019s first visit to North Korea in 24 years. Kim said Russia is playing a critical role in keeping a strategic balance in the world, while Putin said he hoped Kim will visit him in Moscow.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we have prepared a new fundamental document that will form the basis of our relations for the long term,\u201d Putin told the North Korean leader. \u201cWe highly appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policy, including in the Ukrainian direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim said his country would \u201cunwaveringly, unconditionally support Russia\u2019s every policy regardless of any complication on the international geopolitical situation going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The North Korean leader said the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty agreed with Putin would strengthen cooperation between the two countries, including in the economic, political and military spheres.<\/p>\n
Putin\u2019s visit came hours after the first high-level security talks between China and South Korea in about nine years on Tuesday. After the Soviet collapse and the rise of China as an economic power, Beijing has been Pyongyang\u2019s main benefactor. But the deepening relationship between Kim and Putin may be leading to a realignment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis won\u2019t be exactly what China would have wanted as more military tension in the region would mean an increased US military presence in the region,\u201d said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University\u2019s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul. \u201cIt gives another reason for the US to strengthen its trilateral partnership with South Korea and Japan.\u201d <\/p>\n
Putin\u2019s formal visit kicked off with a welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in central Pyongyang involving a red carpet, white horses, balloons and cheering crowds holding flowers and flags of the two countries, video showed. Massive portraits of the two leaders were hung side by side at the plaza as the ceremony took place. <\/p>\n
The trip comes after Kim traveled to Russia in September, which as satellite imagery later showed was followed by a massive growth in arms transfers. Putin last visited Pyongyang in 2000 as Russia\u2019s president. <\/p>\n
Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the arms transfers despite ample evidence showing them taking place. <\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday in Washington that Russia is trying \u201cin desperation to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression it started against Ukraine.\u201d Pyongyang has provided Moscow with \u201csignificant munitions\u201d and other weapons for use in Ukraine, he said.<\/p>\n
North Korea possesses some of the largest stores of artillery and weapons that are interoperable with Soviet-era systems deployed on the front lines in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
In return for the munitions from Kim\u2019s regime that could reach as high as nearly 5 million artillery shells, Russia has sent to North Korea technology to help in its plans to deploy an array of spy satellites, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said in a recent interview with Bloomberg News. Russia will likely send military technology to Kim, increasing Pyongyang\u2019s threat to the region, he said. <\/p>\n
Putin will travel to Vietnam later Wednesday after concluding talks with Kim, according to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n
\u2014With assistance from Shinhye Kang.<\/p>\n
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