MOSCOW, Nov 10 — 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 yesterday.
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 yesterday 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 said they have found traces of the weapons at sites of Russian attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that North Korea has sent 11,000 troops to Russia and some of them suffered casualties in combat with Kyiv’s forces in Russia’s southern Kursk region.
Russia has not confirmed the presence of North Korean troops.
— Reuters
