Russia, North Korea will help each other if attacked: Russian President Vladimir Putin

Seoul, June 19

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on Wednesday that includes a mutual defence pledge, one of Russia’s most significant moves in Asia for years that Kim said amounted to an “alliance”.

Putin’s pledge overhauls Russia’s entire post-Soviet policy on North Korea just as the United States and its Asian allies try to gauge how far Russia could deepen support for the only country to have tested a nuclear weapon this century.

On his first visit to Pyongyang since July 2000, Putin explicitly linked Russia’s deepening of ties with North Korea to the West’s growing support for Ukraine and said Moscow could develop military and technical cooperation with Pyongyang.

After talks, they signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” pact, which Putin said included a mutual defence clause in the case of aggression against either country.

“The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today provides, among other things, for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement,” Putin said.

He said Western deliveries of advanced, long-range weaponry including F-16 fighters to Ukraine for strikes against Russia breached major agreements. “In connection with this, Russia does not exclude for itself the development of military-technical cooperation with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Putin said.

Kim praised Russia for making what he cast as an enormously significant strategic move to support North Korea, which was founded in 1948 with the Soviet Union’s backing.

While North Korea has a defence treaty with China, it does not have active military collaboration with Beijing like it has developed with Russia over the past year. North Korea also signed a 1961 treaty with the Soviet Union that included promises of mutual support in the event of an attack.

Putin was greeted by cheering crowds lining the streets of Pyongyang along with children waving Russian flags and a military salute. — Reuters

Putin drives Kim in Russian-built limousine

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday took North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a drive in a luxury Russian-built Aurus limousine during a pomp-filled visit to Pyongyang after presenting one of the luxury cars to Kim as a gift.The Aurus Senat, retro-styled after the Soviet-era ZIL limousine, is the official Russian presidential car. Reuters