On Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu and, according to state media KCNA’s report on Thursday, pledged his unconditional support for Russia’s position on Ukraine and other international issues.
“Kim Jong Un affirmed that the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will, in the future, too, unconditionally support the stand of Russia and its foreign policies,” it said, using the North’s official name.
North Korea will responsibly observe the articles of the treaty between the two countries, Kim was quoted as saying.
The two men also discussed strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership and mutual cooperation in different fields.
The treaty was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang last year and a summit with North Korea’s Kim, and includes a mutual defence pact for immediate military assistance if either faces armed aggression.
Pyongyang Defends Moscow Ties
North Korea on Monday rejected a recent report by a multilateral sanctions panel on its ties with Russia as politically motivated and biased, insisting that its military cooperation with Moscow is a legitimate exercise of its sovereign rights, according to state media.
A report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group comprising 11 UN members, said North Korea enabled Russia to increase missile attacks against critical Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and supplied more than 20,000 containers of munitions.
‘Outrageous Encroachment’
The MSMT is “a political tool operating according to the geopolitical interests of the West and, therefore, it has no justification to investigate the exercise of sovereign rights of other countries”, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement cited by the state KCNA news agency.
The ministry called the group’s move “hostile” and “outrageous encroachment” on its sovereignty.
The group also said Moscow helped North Korea improve missile performance in return by supplying data. It was launched in October last year to monitor UN sanctions against North Korea after a Security Council panel was scrapped by Russia and China.
(With inputs from Reuters)
