North Korea says Kim and Putin’s defense pact permits all available means to assist each other if either nation attacked

CNN —

North Korea and Russia have pledged to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event the other is attacked, according to the text of a new landmark defense pact agreed by the two autocratic nations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed the new strategic partnership agreement Wednesday in Pyongyang during a rare state visit by the Russian leader who described the deal as a “new level” in bilateral relations.

The pact, which comes against the backdrop of Putin’s grinding war against Ukraine, is the most significant agreement signed by Russia and North Korea in decades and is seen as something of a revival of their 1961 Cold War-era mutual defense pledge. It also consolidates the Kim regime’s powerful link with a world power that wields a veto on the UN Security Council.

On Thursday, North Korean state media KCNA published the full text of the pact, which also includes political, trade, investment, and security cooperation.

According to the text, Article 4 states that should either country “get into a state of war due to an armed aggression” the other “shall immediately provide military and other assistance with all the means at its disposal.”

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un ® attend a signing ceremony following their bilateral talks at Kumsusan state residence in Pyongyang, on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Kristina Kormilitsyna / POOL / AFP) / — Editor's note: this image is distributed by the Russian state owned agency Sputnik — (Photo by KRISTINA KORMILITSYNA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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