Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the mutual defense treaty with North Korea on Saturday November 9, 2024. A strategic choice which was expected and which could have an impact on the war in Ukraine as in the relations between Moscow and Pyongyang with the United States of President-elect Donald Trump.
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Concluded during a rare visit of Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang in June, this treaty between two pet peeves UNITED STATES provides in particular “ immediate military aid » reciprocal in the event of an attack against one of the two countries. The upper house of the Russian Parliament ratified this treaty on November 8, which still had to be signed by the Russian president to enter into force. The Kremlin published the law ratifying the treaty on Saturday, November 9.
The agreement formalizes months of deepening security cooperation between the two countries, communist allies throughout the Cold War. Russia and North Korea have grown significantly closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Citing intelligence reports, South Korea, Ukraine and the West say Korea The North has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia in recent weeks to fight Ukraine. Vladimir Putin did not deny the deployment in October, instead deflecting the issue to criticize Western support for kyiv.
Caution regarding North Korea’s massive involvement in Ukraine
Will the signing of this treaty lead to a massive use of North Korean soldiers in the conflict that has been going on for two and a half years, while President Putin does not wish, for the moment, to carry out a new mobilization? , and that the losses on the ground are colossal? “ It’s possible », admits Jérôme Pellistrandi, editor-in-chief of the magazine National Defenseinterviewed by RFI. The head of the British armed forces put forward the figure of more than 1,500 dead or injured per day during the month of October. More than 700,000 Russian soldiers have reportedly been killed and wounded since February 2022.
Jérôme Pellistrandi, however, remains cautious about the large-scale involvement of the North Korean army in this conflict. Certainly, the signing of the mutual defense treaty tends to envisage the sending of North Korean troops to replace the Russians, ” but you have to be careful “. See tens, or even hundreds of thousands of North Korean regime troops in the war in Ukraine ” will not happen in the coming weeks or months », he thinks.
“ North Korea remains the absolute adversary of the United States »
The agreement also commits Russia and North Korea to cooperate internationally to oppose Western sanctions and coordinate their positions at the United Nations. According to Jérôme Pellistrandi, this new rapprochement between Moscow and Pyongyang is “ very curious », a few days after the victory of Donald Trump in the American presidential election. THE president-elect declared, during his campaign, that he is in favor of a reduction in American aid to Ukraine, and that he even wants to put an end to this conflict, even if it means that Ukraine loses part of its territory for the benefit of Russia. But the signing of this treaty “ is a very negative signal sent by Moscow towards Washington “, because ” whatever one may think, North Korea remains the absolute adversary of the United States “.
Could Donald Trump, therefore, change his opinion towards Russia, a close ally of North Korea? It is not impossible according to the expert, who recalls the weight of the past: “ We must not forget what the Korean War (from 1950 to 1953, Editor’s note) for American public opinion, with extremely significant losses (between two and four million deaths, Editor’s note). Endorsing this (…) would erase what the United States did during the Korean War, for the benefit of South Korea and Asia. “, he specifies.
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