Seoul, Dec 5 (EFE).- The strategic partnership treaty signed by the leaders of North Korea and Russia in June officially came into force this week, state media reported Thursday, as Pyongyang dispatches troops to the Ukrainian front to support Moscow.
“On December 4, the instruments of ratification of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty between (North Korea) and (Russia), signed by the heads of state of the two countries in Pyongyang on Jun. 19, 2024, were exchanged in Moscow,” North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported.
It said the treaty serves as a legal framework “to realize the long-range plan of the two countries and the desire of the two peoples to place bilateral relations on a new strategic level and build a powerful state while firmly defending the regional and global security environment in accordance with common interests.”
Pyongyang ratified the agreement on Nov. 12, after Russia’s senate did the same on Nov. 6, in a document that establishes that if one of the signatory parties is the object of an armed attack, the other will immediately provide military and other assistance.
North Korea deployed in November on the Russian border with Ukraine some 11,000 soldiers and according to Kyiv and other allies, some of them have already entered combat.
It is believed that they have embedded themselves with Russian troops fighting the Ukrainian army in the Russian region of Kursk, partially occupied by Kyiv forces since August.
Russia, which has so far neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops on its territory, says the treaty with Pyongyang is of a “defensive nature and is not directed against the security of third countries.”
In a recent report by Russian state news agency TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned the possibility of both countries carrying out joint military exercises, which would mean a deepening of their military cooperation.
North Korea, for its part, has not informed its citizens of the deployment of its military on the Ukrainian front. EFE
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