Putin and Kim: We will come to each other's aid

TT

Updated 12.06 | Published 07.05

 

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un in Pyongyang on Wednesday.  

1 / 2Photo: Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/Kremlin Via AP/TT

Russia and North Korea enter into a "strategic partnership agreement" - and a pact with mutual defense guarantees.

If one country is the victim of an attack, the other commits to come to its aid, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un assert in Pyongyang.

- The Comprehensive Partnership Agreement signed today mandates the provision of mutual assistance in the event of an attack on one of the parties to the agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, according to state-run media in his home country.

It is not clear in detail how this promise is worded - what help would include in a conflict situation such as the Russian war of invasion in Ukraine - but they describe it as entirely defense-oriented.

"Support and solidarity"

The Russian president arrived in North Korea and Pyongyang on Tuesday, where he was met by Kim Jong-Un at the airport. They then rode in motorcades along streets festooned with Russian flags and large pictures of Putin, with crowds in large array.

The two autocrats agree that their countries' military and economic cooperation should be strengthened, as well as their united front against the United States, according to an agreement at the North Korea summit.

At the beginning of the meeting, Putin thanked Kim for North Korea's support, including regarding the war in Ukraine. Russia's state-run media reports that the two leaders spoke for about two hours.

Vladimir Putin says he hopes the next meeting with Kim will take place in Moscow. The two last met when Kim visited Putin in the Russian Far East last fall. The Russian leader last visited North Korea 24 years ago, when he was relatively new to his post.

Russia's rule has strengthened contacts with North Korea alongside the ongoing war of invasion in Ukraine. North Korea is said to have supplied Russia with weapons, among other things.

"Show that you are not isolated"

There are two reasons why Russia is choosing to turn to North Korea now, according to Carolina Vendil Pallin, research leader for the Russia group at the Total Defense Research Institute (FOI).

- On the one hand, Russia tries in every way to establish closer relations with countries that it does not define as "unfriendly" to show that it is not isolated.

- And then you need ammunition and weapon deliveries, says Carolina Vendil Pallin.

- The war has meant that Russia is in a weakened position and countries like North Korea can request things from Russia in a completely different way now, such as technology transfer.