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.)

A TV screen shows an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a news program, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on June 19, 2024. North Korean leader Kim promised full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine before beginning a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday, in a bid to expand their economic and military cooperation and show a united front against Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

South Korea said on June 20 that it would consider sending arms to Ukraine, a major policy change suggested after Russia and North Korea rattled the region and beyond by signing a pact to come to each other’s defense in the event of war.

The comments from a senior presidential official came hours after North Korea’s state media released the details of the agreement, which observers said could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. It comes at a time when Russia faces growing isolation over its war in Ukraine and both countries face escalating standoffs with the West.

According to the text of the deal published by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, if either country gets invaded and is pushed into a state of war, the other must deploy “all means at its disposal without delay” to provide “military and other assistance.” But the agreement also says that such actions must be in accordance with the laws of both countries and Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which recognizes a U.N. member state’s right to self-defense.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the pact at a summit on June 19 in Pyongyang. Both described it as a major upgrade of bilateral relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties.

The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a statement condemning the agreement, calling it a threat to the South’s security and a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and warned that it would have negative consequences on Seoul’s relations with Moscow.

“It’s absurd that two parties with a history of launching wars of invasion — the Korean War and the war in Ukraine — are now vowing mutual military cooperation on the premise of a preemptive attack by the international community that will never happen,” Mr. Yoon’s office said.

Mr. Yoon’s national security adviser, Chang Ho-jin, said Seoul would reconsider the issue of providing arms to Ukraine to help the country fight off Russia’s invasion.

South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped military backed by the United States, has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow. But it has not directly provided arms to Kyiv, citing a longstanding policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.

The summit between Kim and Putin came as the U.S. and its allies expressed growing concern over a possible arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

Following their summit, Mr. Kim said the two countries had a “fiery friendship,” and that the deal was their “strongest-ever treaty,” putting the relationship at the level of an alliance. He vowed full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Mr. Putin called it a “breakthrough document” reflecting shared desires to move relations to a higher level.

North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961, which experts say necessitated Moscow’s military intervention if the North came under attack. The deal was discarded after the collapse of the USSR, replaced by one in 2000 that offered weaker security assurances.

There’s ongoing debate on how strong of a security commitment the deal entails. While some analysts see the agreement as a full restoration of the countries’ Cold War-era alliance, others say the deal seems more symbolic than substantial.

Ankit Panda, a senior analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the text appeared to be carefully worded as to not imply automatic military invention.

But “the big picture here is that both sides are willing to put down on paper, and show the world, just how widely they intend to expand the scope of their cooperation,” he said.

The deal was made as Mr. Putin visited North Korea for the first time in 24 years, a trip that showcased their personal and geopolitical ties with Kim hugging Putin twice at the airport, their motorcade rolling past giant Russian flags and Putin portraits, and a welcoming ceremony at Pyongyang’s main square attended by what appeared to be tens of thousands of spectators.

According to KCNA, the agreement also states that Pyongyang and Moscow must not enter into agreements with third parties if they infringe on the “core interests” of any of them and must not participate in actions that threaten those interests.

KCNA said the agreement requires the countries to take steps to prepare joint measures for the purpose of strengthening their defense capabilities to prevent war and protect regional and global peace and security. The agency didn’t specify what those steps are, or whether they would include combined military training and other cooperation.

The agreement also calls for the countries to actively cooperate in efforts to establish a “just and multipolar new world order,” KCNA said, underscoring how the countries are aligning in face of their separate confrontations with the United States.

How the pact affects Russia’s relations with the South is a key development to watch, said Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and director of the North Korea-focused 38 North website.

“Seoul had already signed onto sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, souring its relations with Moscow. Now with any ambiguity of Russia’s partnership with North Korea removed, how will Seoul respond?” she said. “Is there a point where it decides to cut or suspend diplomatic ties with Russia or expel its ambassador? And have we reached it?”

Mr. Kim in recent months has made Russia his priority as he pushes a foreign policy aimed at expanding relations with countries confronting Washington, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and trying to display a united front in Putin’s broader conflicts with the West.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Mr. Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the U.S., South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle.

The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un walk during a farewell ceremony upon Mr. Putin’s departure at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea June 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: via Reuters

A new agreement between Russia and North Korea reached by their leaders requires the countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event of war, North Korean state media said.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency on Thursday reported the language of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement reached by its leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday. The agency said Article 4 of the agreement states that if one of the countries gets invaded and is pushed into a state of war, the other must deploy “all means at its disposal without delay” to provide “military and other assistance”.

The deal could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. Both Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin described it as a major upgrade of their relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties.

The summit came as the U.S. and its allies expressed growing concerns over a possible arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Mr. Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.

Following their summit, Mr. Kim said the two countries had a “fiery friendship”, and that the deal was their “strongest-ever treaty”, putting the relationship at the level of an alliance. He vowed full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Mr. Putin called it a “breakthrough document” reflecting shared desires to move relations to a higher level.

North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961, which experts say necessitated Moscow’s military intervention if the North came under attack. The deal was discarded after the collapse of the USSR, replaced by one in 2000 that offered weaker security assurances.

South Korean officials said they were still interpreting the results of the summit, including what Russia’s response might be if the North comes under attack, and whether the new deal promises a similar level of protection with the 1961 treaty. South Korean officials didn’t immediately comment on the North Korean report about the details of the deal.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the US, South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle.

The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took turns to drive each other around in a Russian-built Aurus limousine on Wednesday after the Kremlin said Putin had gifted one of the luxury vehicles to Kim.

In a carefully staged public relations opportunity held amid tight security, the two leaders used the moment to show how close their working relationship has become during what was a pomp-filled visit to Pyongyang by Putin, his first in nearly a quarter of a century.

Their jaunt took place after the two leaders had signed a deal that included a mutual defence pledge, one of Russia’s most significant moves in Asia for years that Kim said amounted to an “alliance”.

Video released by Russian state TV showed Putin jumping behind the wheel of the black armoured Aurus, which is his official presidential car back in Russia, with Kim getting in the passenger seat.

The car is then shown driving on a road which weaves its way through a carefully manicured park area before coming to a halt. A Korean man in a suit wearing white gloves is seen opening the door for Kim before rushing round to hold Putin’s door.

Putin and Kim are then shown walking side by side and chatting on a path in a wooded area with two men, presumably translators, walking behind them.

Kim, who is believed to be a keen automobile enthusiast, is then shown driving Putin back.

One of Putin’s aides said earlier on Wednesday that the Russian leader had presented Kim with a Russian-built Aurus limousine as a gift.

Putin gave Kim a first Aurus limousine in February this year, both countries said at the time, meaning he now has at least two of the vehicles.

The Aurus Senat, retro-styled after the Soviet-era ZIL limousine, is the official Russian presidential car and Putin rode in one to his most recent Kremlin inauguration ceremony in May.

When Kim visited eastern Russia in September last year, Putin showed him one of the vehicles. Kim sat beside Putin in the car and appeared to enjoy it.

Kim has a large collection of luxury foreign vehicles which have probably been smuggled in, as U.N. Security Council resolutions ban the export of luxury goods to North Korea.

He has been spotted in a Maybach limousine, several Mercedes, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Lexus sports utility vehicle.

Aurus Motors began making its cars in Russia’s Tatarstan region, around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from Moscow, in 2021.

A senior Russian official said last month that Russia would start making Aurus cars at a former Toyota factory in St. Petersburg this year.

Russia is looking for ways to use car factories left idle after some global automakers withdrew from the Russian market following Putin’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Western sanctions imposed on Russia since have helped sharply push up prices for new cars and seen Chinese manufacturers expand their market share as some mass market Russian carmakers have struggled.

According to Russian analytical agency Autostat, 40 Aurus-branded cars have been sold in Russia so far this year.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

A strategic partnership pact signed by the leaders of Russia and North Korea on Wednesday includes a mutual defence clause under which each country agrees to help the other repel external aggression, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

“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 was quoted as saying by state news agency TASS.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Britain said on May 17 it was imposing new sanctions along with its international partners that target Russian and North Korean attempts to contravene or circumvent UN sanctions with its “arms for oil” trade.

“The sanctions highlight the joint malign efforts of Russia and the DPRK to circumvent sanctions on petroleum products, which help facilitate the DPRK’s unlawful military programmes,” the government said in a statement.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russia said on March 29 that major powers needed a new approach to North Korea, accusing the United States and its allies of ratcheting up military tensions in Asia and seeking to “strangle” the reclusive state.

Russia vetoed the annual renewal of a panel of experts monitoring enforcement of longstanding United Nations sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

Moscow’s move, which strikes a blow at the enforcement of a myriad of U.N. sanctions imposed after Pyongyang carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, underscores the dividend that Kim Jong-un has earned by moving closer to President Vladimir Putin amid the war in Ukraine.

Also Read | The quick transformation of Russia-North Korea ties

“It is obvious to us that the UN Security Council can no longer use old templates in relation to the problems of the Korean Peninsula,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Ms. Zakharova said the U.S. was stoking military tensions, that international restrictions had not improved the security situation and that there were severe humanitarian consequences for the population of North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

“The United States and its allies have clearly demonstrated that their interest does not extend beyond the task of ‘strangling’ the DPRK by all available means, and a peaceful settlement is not on the agenda at all,” she said.

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that Russia’s veto had “cynically undermined international peace and security” and accused Moscow of seeking to bury reporting by the panel of experts on its own “collusion” with North Korea to get weapons.

“Russia alone will own the outcome of this veto: a DPRK more emboldened to reckless behavior and destabilizing provocations, as well as reduced prospects for an enduring peace on the Korean Peninsula,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

The Russian veto is seen as a major turning point in the international sanctions regime against North Korea, which was formed in 1948 with the backing of the then-Soviet Union while the Republic of Korea was backed by the United States.

North Korea is the only country to have conducted nuclear tests in the 21st century – in 2006, 2009, 2013, twice in 2016, and 2017, according to the United Nations.

Russia said the experts’ work was neither objective nor impartial, and that they had turned into a tool of the West.

“The Group of Experts of the UN Security Council Committee 1718 has lost all standards of objectivity and impartiality, which should be integral characteristics of its mandate,” Zakharova said.

She said the experts had “turned into an obedient tool of the DPRK’s geopolitical opponents. There is no point in saving it in this form”.

The veto illustrates just how far the Ukraine war, which triggered the deepest crisis in Russia’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, has undermined big-power cooperation on other major global issues.

Since Mr. Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has gone out of its way to parade a renaissance of its relationship – including military ties – with Pyongyang.

Washington says North Korea has supplied Russia with missiles that it is using against Ukraine, assertions which have been dismissed by the Kremlin and Pygonyang.

For Mr. Putin, who says Russia is locked in an existential battle with the West over Ukraine, courting Kim allows him to needle Washington and its Asian allies while securing a deep supply of artillery for the Ukraine war.

For Mr. Kim, who has pledged to accelerate production of nuclear weapons to deter what he casts as U.S. provocations, Russia is a big power ally with deep stores of advanced missile, military, space and nuclear technology.

Russia, Ms. Zakharova said, sought a compromise under which sanctions would be reviewed over specific time limits, though that proposal had been met with “hostility” by Washington.

“We call on the parties concerned to refrain from escalating steps and reconfigure themselves to find ways to detente, taking into account known security priorities,” Ms. Zakharova said.

Russia’s UN Security Council veto on March 28 blocked the renewal of the panel of experts tasked with investigating violations of sanctions tied to North Korea’s banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russia faced a mounting backlash on March 29 after using its veto power to effectively end official U.N. monitoring of sanctions on North Korea amid a probe into alleged arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Russia’s UN Security Council veto on March 28 blocked the renewal of the panel of experts tasked with investigating violations of sanctions tied to North Korea’s banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

South Korea’s foreign ministry slammed the move as an “irresponsible decision”.

Also Read | The quick transformation of Russia-North Korea ties

Seoul has accused Pyongyang of sending thousands of containers of weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine, and Russia’s move was “almost comparable to destroying a CCTV to avoid being caught red-handed”, said Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea’s U.N. ambassador.

The Kremlin defended its veto saying U.N. sanctions on North Korea were hindering dialogue and peace on the Korean peninsula and had not aided regional security.

“Over the years, international restrictive measures have not helped to improve the security situation in the region,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing that Moscow’s position was “more in line with our interests”.

The European Union had earlier called Moscow’s veto “an effort to conceal unlawful arms transfers between DPRK and Russia, in the context of the latter’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine”, referring to the North by its official name.

The United States, meanwhile, said the vote was a “self-interested effort to bury the panel’s reporting on its own collusion” with North Korea.

“Russia’s actions today have cynically undermined international peace and security, all to advance the corrupt bargain that Moscow has struck with the DPRK,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said after the Thursday vote.

The panel’s mandate expires at the end of April.

North Korea has been under mounting sanctions since 2006, put in place by the U.N. Security Council in response to its nuclear program.

Since 2019, Russia and China have tried to persuade the Security Council to ease the sanctions, which have no expiration date.

The council has long been divided on the issue.

Political solution

China abstained rather than joining Russia in the veto. All other members had voted in favor of renewing the expert panel.

Beijing said Friday it opposed “blindly supporting sanctions” on North Korea.

“The current situation in the (Korean) Peninsula remains tense, and blindly imposing sanctions cannot solve the issue,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.

“A political solution is the only way,” he said when asked why Beijing abstained during the vote, adding that a “showdown at the U.N. Security Council is not conducive to its authority.”

China and Russia have in recent years ramped up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts, and their strategic partnership has only grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzia had earlier said that without an annual review to assess and potentially modify the sanctions, the panel was unjustified.

“The panel has continued to focus on trivial matters that are not commensurate with the problems facing the peninsula,” Nebenzia said.

Continued tests

Additional Security Council sanctions were levelled on Pyongyang in 2016 and 2017, but the North’s development of its nuclear and weapons programmes has continued unabated.

Last week, Pyongyang tested a solid-fuel engine for a “new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile,” state media reported.

Recent cruise missile launches have prompted speculation that North Korea is testing those weapons before shipping them to Moscow for use in Ukraine.

In its latest report, issued at the beginning of March, the sanctions panel reported that North Korea “continued to flout” sanctions, including by launching ballistic missiles and breaching oil import limits.

It added that it is investigating reports of arms shipments from Pyongyang to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took to social media Thursday to call the veto “a guilty plea”.