Russian defense minister visits North Korea

Andrey Belousov is in Pyongyang to discuss military cooperation with his counterpart, No Kwang-chol

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov is visiting North Korea for talks with his counterpart, No Kwang-chol, focusing on implementing a strategic cooperation agreement that Moscow and Pyongyang sealed this year.

The treaty “is designed to play a stabilizing role in Northeast Asia, to contribute positively to preserving the balance of power in the region, and reduce the risk of war reigniting on the [Korean] peninsula, including with the use of nuclear weapons,” the Russian military official said at the start of the meeting.

The North Korean minister said he appreciated “the energetic exchanges and cooperation between the military departments” of the two nations.

The high-level meeting comes after claims by the US and its allies that Pyongyang had sent some 12,000 troops to Russia for training and possible deployment in the Ukraine conflict. Moscow and Pyongyang have neither confirmed nor denied the assessment. Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was up to the two nations, and nobody else, to decide how they fulfil their mutual commitments under the new treaty.

The document stipulates that Russia and North Korea commit to assisting each other in case of an act of aggression by a third party. In August, Kiev launched an incursion into the Kursk Region, which is universally recognized as Russian territory. Western nations have claimed the operation was justified by Ukraine’s right to self-defense amid the wider armed conflict with Russia.

Moscow considers the Ukraine conflict to be a US-led proxy war against Russia, in which Ukraine is being used as a “battering ram”. Russian officials have accused Washington of consistently escalating the situation, including by authorizing long-range strikes with donated missiles against Russian territory.

The decision, announced earlier this month, has made the US and other donor states whose arms are used by Kiev de facto parties to the conflict, Putin has said. Without direct input from the supplying nations, Ukrainian troops are incapable of launching such sophisticated weapons, he stated.