Putin says Russia and North Korea will help each other in the event of an attack and take relations to a “new level”

CNN
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Vladimir Putin said Russia and North Korea had taken their relations to a “new level” and pledged to help each other if either country was attacked, a “groundbreaking” new partnership announced by the Russian president during his rare visit to the reclusive state.

Thousands of North Koreans lined the city’s wide boulevards, chanting “Welcome, Putin” while waving Russian and North Korean flags and bouquets of flowers. Putin began his first visit to North Korea in 24 years with a carefully choreographed show of force in the dictatorship.

The pair then signed the new strategic partnership, which will replace previous agreements from 1961, 2000 and 2001, according to Russian state news agency TASS. “The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today includes, among other things, the provision of mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement,” Putin said after the meeting.

He said the agreement covers “the areas of politics, trade, investment, culture and also the security sphere” and called the pact “truly a groundbreaking document”.

Putin said the joint exercises between the US, South Korea and Japan were “hostile” to North Korea and characterized US policy as “confrontational.” Kim, meanwhile, described the new “alliance” as a “turning point in the development of bilateral relations.”

However, the deal between the two autocrats also raises many questions – for example, whether Russia’s nuclear deterrent now extends to North Korea and vice versa, or whether the two countries will hold joint military exercises in the future.

Putin was greeted with exuberant celebrations at a welcoming ceremony with his counterpart at Kim Il Sung Square in the heart of the North Korean capital. Mounted soldiers, military personnel and children holding balloons cheered against the backdrop of large portraits of the respective heads of state.

The two leaders introduced their respective officials and stood side by side as the Russian national anthem was played. They then drove away in an open limousine, standing shoulder to shoulder, smiling and waving to the crowd.

The staging reflected North Korea’s dependence on Moscow and was likely intended to remind the West that Putin still wields considerable influence in at least some parts of the world following his large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The relationship is also important for Russia. Several governments have accused Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with weapons for the grueling war in Ukraine. Both countries deny this accusation, although there is ample evidence of such supplies.

On Wednesday, Putin presented Kim with an Aurus during an exchange of gifts between the two leaders, according to Russian state media – the second time Putin has given his counterpart this model of car. According to Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov, the Russian president also presented Kim with a tea set. Ushakov did not specify what Putin received, but said they were “also good gifts.”

Putin landed in North Korea in the early hours of Wednesday local time, 24 years to the day since his last visit to Pyongyang. His visit marked a closer rapprochement between the two countries amid shared hostility toward the West and international concern over their growing military cooperation.

Ahead of the talks between the two, Kim expressed his “full support and solidarity with the struggle of the Russian government, military and people,” referring in particular to Moscow’s war in Ukraine “to protect its own sovereignty, security and territorial stability.”

“The situations remain complicated and constantly changing, but I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that we will continue to strengthen and closely maintain strategic communication with the (Russian) leadership,” Kim added.

Putin praised the two countries’ relations as being based on “equality and mutual respect” and said an expected new bilateral agreement would “form the basis of relations between the two states for many years to come,” according to Russian state news agency TASS. He added that he hoped Kim would visit Moscow for their next meeting.

The burgeoning relations have raised concerns in both Seoul and Washington, not only about North Korea’s arms sales to Russia but also about the possibility that Moscow will provide its superior military technology to support Pyongyang’s heavily sanctioned weapons program.

Kim, the leader of a third-generation dynasty that rules North Korea with an iron fist, was visibly beaming as he greeted Putin at the airport in the early hours of Wednesday, video footage of the Russian leader’s arrival showed.

The historic visit represents a significant boost for Kim, who remains isolated on the world stage and has not received another head of state in his capital since the pandemic.

At this time, tensions remain high on the Korean peninsula. There, Kim has intensified his belligerent stance in recent months and abandoned his long-standing policy of peaceful reunification with South Korea. In Pyongyang, there is concern about increasing cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan.

North Korean state media appeared to make heavy use of the close relationship between Kim and Putin, describing them as someone who “exchanged his pent-up innermost thoughts and opened his mind to develop (North Korean-Russian) relations more safely” as they drove together from the airport to the Kumsusan state guesthouse, where Putin is staying.

Putin’s trip follows Kim’s historic visit to Russia last year, which many saw as a new moment to open a new chapter in the two leaders’ relations, based on Putin’s need for North Korean weapons for the ongoing offensive.

Russia has received more than 10,000 shipping containers – the equivalent of 260,000 tons of ammunition or ammunition accessories – from North Korea since September, a US statement said in February. Russian forces have also fired at least 10 North Korean missiles at Ukraine since September, a US official said in March.

It is widely believed that the Russian president wants to ensure this continued support, which may be particularly urgent as delayed American military aid to Ukraine now takes effect.

Putin also tried to link today’s meeting with the historical ties between Moscow and Pyongyang. The “achievements of previous generations” are a “good basis for the development of relations” between the two nations, he told Kim, according to Russian state media TASS.

Putin last visited Pyongyang in 2000 to meet Kim’s late father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il. The trip, which took place just weeks after Putin took office as president, made him the first Russian leader to visit North Korea.

In 2001, the elder Kim visited Moscow, taking a nine-day marathon train journey across Russia for the meeting. This was only his second overseas trip, after an earlier visit to China.

In 2000, the two countries also signed a new cooperation agreement. Unlike a 1961 document between the Soviet Union and North Korea, this one made no mention of mutual military defense assistance, but was nonetheless seen as an important step in reviving a strained and close relationship.

The two neighbors have close ties on the Korean peninsula. Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, came to power in the late 1940s as part of a Soviet effort to install a communist-controlled government in the north to rival the U.S.-backed government in the south after the Japanese Imperial Army was defeated in World War II.

But in recent decades, the close relationship has faltered and changed as the Soviet Union collapsed and the new state of Russia established diplomatic relations with Seoul and supported numerous United Nations sanctions against North Korea’s weapons program.

The recent wave of diplomatic efforts comes as the two countries have grown closer over their shared frustrations with the West – a trend that observers say has been accelerated by the war in Ukraine and has given North Korea a powerful friend on the UN Security Council.

In March, Moscow vetoed a UN resolution calling for independent monitoring of North Korea’s violations of Security Council sanctions, raising fears that relations with the United States could weaken control over Kim’s illegal weapons program.

This story has been updated.