Seoul:

A landmark defence pact between North Korea and Russia, signed by its leaders in June, has gone into effect after the two sides exchanged ratification documents, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said Thursday.

The formalization of the treaty comes as the United States and South Korea have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine.

Experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is keen to acquire advanced technology from Moscow and battle experience for his troops in return.

Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the strategic partnership deal during the Kremlin chief’s visit to Pyongyang.

It obligates both states to provide military assistance “without delay” in the case of an attack on the other, and to jointly oppose Western sanctions.

It came into effect from Wednesday, when the ratification documents were exchanged in Moscow by the countries’ vice foreign ministers Kim Jong Gyu and Andrei Rudenko, KCNA reported.

Lawmakers in Moscow last month voted unanimously for the deal and it was later signed by Putin. Pyongyang said it was ratified by a decree from Kim.

The treaty will serve “as a strong driving force accelerating the establishment of an independent and just multi-polarized world order without domination, subjugation and hegemony,” KCNA said.

Analysts have suggested Pyongyang could be using Ukraine as a means of realigning its foreign policy.

By sending soldiers, North Korea is positioning itself within the Russian war economy as a supplier of weapons, military support and labour — potentially even bypassing traditional ally, neighbour and main trading partner China, they say.

North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Both countries are under rafts of UN sanctions — the former for its nuclear weapons programme and the latter for the Ukraine conflict.

Kim said last week during a visit to Pyongyang by Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov that his government, army and people would “invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Putin hailed the deal in June as a “breakthrough document”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Cape Verde:

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mutual defence agreement with North Korea has the potential to create friction with China, which has long been the reclusive state’s main ally, the top U.S. military officer said on Sunday.

“We’ve got someone else who’s kind of nudging in now, so that may drive a little bit more friction between (China) and Russia,” Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters during an overseas trip.

“So it’ll be interesting to see how these three countries — how this plays out.”

Analysts said the pact, signed on Wednesday, could undercut Beijing’s leverage over its two neighbors and any heightened instability could be negative for China’s global economic and strategic ambitions.

On Thursday, Putin said Russia might supply weapons to North Korea in what he suggested would be a mirror response to the Western arming of Ukraine.

Brown acknowledged U.S. concern about the deal.

But he also tempered those remarks by noting apparent limitations to the accord and expressing doubt Moscow would give North Korea “everything” it wanted.

U.S. officials have said they believe North Korea is keen to acquire fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment or materials, and other advanced technologies from Russia.

“The feedback I have on the agreement — it was a broad agreement that’s not overly binding, which gives you an indication (that) they want to work together but they don’t want to get their hands tied,” Brown said.

The treaty signed by Putin and Kim on Wednesday commits each side to provide immediate military assistance to the other in the event of armed aggression against either one of them.

Putin has said Moscow expected that its cooperation with North Korea would serve as a deterrent to the West, but that there was no need to use North Korean soldiers for the war in Ukraine.

The United States and Ukraine say North Korea has already provided Russia with significant quantities of artillery shells and ballistic missiles, which Moscow and Pyongyang deny.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)