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Thursday December 26, 2024

Putin signs into law mutual defence treaty with N Korea

By Reuters
November 10, 2024
Russias President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un attend a state reception in Pyongyang, North Korea on  June 19, 2024. — Reuters
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attend a state reception in Pyongyang, North Korea on  June 19, 2024. — Reuters

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a treaty on the country’s strategic partnership with North Korea which includes a mutual defence provision, according to a decree published on Saturday.

The accord, signed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June after a summit in Pyongyang, calls on each side to come to the other’s aid in case of an armed attack.

Russia’s upper house ratified the treaty this week, while the lower house endorsed it last month. Putin signed a decree on that ratification that appeared on Saturday on a government website outlining legislative procedures.

The treaty galvanises closer ties between Moscow and Pyongyang since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Reports from South Korea and Western countries say North Korea has supplied Russia with weaponry. Ukrainian forensic experts say they have found traces of the weapons at sites of Russian attacks.