-21d0b63c17f6020e4df75f6c6f9a2f4f.jpg "Ivan Khomenko")
On November 9, 2024, Russian leader Vladimir Putin signed a law ratifying the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with North Korea (DPRK).
The agreement, initially signed during Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June 2024, was approved by the State Duma and the Federation Council before it received official ratification. The legal document was published on Russia’s official legal information portal.
According to the treaty, both parties commit to providing immediate military and other assistance if either country faces an armed attack.
Additionally, the agreement specifies that neither side will enter into agreements with third countries that are directed against the other, nor will they allow their territories to be used in ways that violate the sovereignty of the other.
Although the treaty was only ratified recently, North Korean troops have already been deployed to Russia for several months. South Korean intelligence indicates that up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to support Russian forces in the ongoing war in Ukraine, with some reportedly engaged in combat in Russia’s Kursk region. These soldiers have been trained at military facilities in Russia’s Far East, with the first groups to have arrived in July.
As previously reported, Russia has reportedly assembled a group of 50,000 troops, including North Korean units, in the Kursk region for a planned offensive against Ukrainian positions. North Korean soldiers have been training alongside Russian forces in the region, with an attack involving these units expected in the coming days.
