Russian parliament ratifies security treaty with North Korea

The Russian State Duma, the lower chamber of the parliament, has ratified a bilateral treaty with North Korea which President Vladimir Putin signed during his visit to Pyongyang in June and submitted to the chamber earlier this month.

The agreement, which was approved on Thursday, outlines the comprehensive cooperation that the two countries intend to maintain, including on national security issues. Its provisions state that neither side will enter treaties with third parties that infringe on the other’s sovereignty. In the event of an attack on one of the nations, the other vows to provide support, including with military means, as allowed by the UN Charter. 

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, who provided MPs with expert opinion about the document during the session, said it will bring relations with North Korea to a new level and contribute to “the creation of a just multipolar international system.” 

“This treaty is open, it will be published, there are no secret points in it. Everything is written clearly,” he said.

The diplomat added that Moscow seeks to “curb increasing regional threats coming from the collective West led by the US, which is pursuing a course of preserving its hegemony and creating closed military-political alliances in the Asian Pacific.” Washington’s activities may result in the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons in the region, Rudenko warned.

There has been intense speculation this month that North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia for possible deployment in the Ukraine conflict. The allegations first came from Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who claimed Korean soldiers had been killed by Kiev’s forces.

Seoul’s NIS intelligence agency alleged last week that Pyongyang could provide as many as four brigades totaling 12,000 soldiers. US defense secretary Lloyd Austin claimed on Wednesday that some 3,000 troops had arrived on Russian soil from North Korea, warning that they would be “fair game” if sent to the front line.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that statements from Kiev and its backers were contradictory. North Korea’s representative at the UN has said that his delegation “does not feel any need to comment on groundless and stereotype rumors” meant to smear his nation.

North Korean diplomat Kim Yo-jong, who is the sister of the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has called officials in Ukraine and South Korea “lunatics” with a habit of threatening nuclear-armed neighbors, which she claimed was typical for “bad dogs bred by the US.”