SEOUL, South Korea
North Korea ratified a major defense treaty with Russia stipulating mutual military aid, the North’s state media reported Tuesday, as the U.S., South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.
Russia had completed
the ratification of the treaty last week after it was signed by
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June.
It is considered both countries’ biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold
War.
The Comprehensive Strategic
Partnership treaty will take effect when both sides exchange documents on the
ratification, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korea ratified the
treaty through a decree signed Monday by the country's president of state
affairs, KCNA said, using one of Kim's titles.
North Korea’s rubber-stamp
parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, has the right to ratify treaties but
Kim can unilaterally ratify major ones, according to South Korea’s Unification
Ministry.
The
treaty requires both countries to use all available means to provide
immediate military assistance if either is attacked. It also calls for the two
countries to actively cooperate in efforts to establish a “just and multipolar
new world order” and strengthen cooperation on various sectors including
peaceful atomic energy, space, food supply, trade and economy.
Some observers speculate the
treaty’s ratification in both countries could signal North Korea could formally
enter the Russia-Ukraine war soon.
According to U.S., South
Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, up to 12,000 North Korean troops
have been sent to Russia likely as part of the June treaty.
Last week, Ukrainian officials
said Ukraine and North Korean troops engaged in small-scale
fighting while Ukraine’s army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers
in Russia’s
Kursk border region.
North Korea’s troop dispatch
threatens to escalate the almost three-year war. South Korea, the U.S. and
their partners also worry about what Russia could give North Korea in
return. Possible
Russian transfer of sensitive technology to enhance North Korea’s
already-advancing nuclear and missile programs would be an alarming development
for the U.S. and its allies.
North Korea and Russia have
been significantly strengthening their military and other cooperation. South
Korea’s spy agency said last month that North Korea had sent more than 13,000
containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional
arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons
stockpiles.
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