New treaty restores North Korea-Russia relationship to military alliance

[Anchor]

A new treaty that restores the relationship between North Korea and Russia to the level of a military alliance has officially come into effect.

Based on this treaty, there are also possibilities that North Korea will formalize troop deployments to Russia and consider additional deployments.

Go Eun-hee reports.

[Report]

The new treaty between North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and Russian President Putin was established during their summit in June.

The two countries completed all procedures and the treaty took effect yesterday by exchanging ratification documents in Moscow, about half a year later.

Article 4 of the treaty states, "If one country is invaded and enters a state of war, the other country shall provide military assistance without delay in accordance with domestic laws," which is evaluated as effectively forming a military alliance between the two countries.

South Korea's Unification Ministry official stated regarding the activation of the North Korea-Russia treaty, "It was processed relatively quickly," and added, "We are monitoring the possibility that North Korea may formalize troop deployments based on the treaty."

There are also concerns that North Korea may seek additional troop support following the formalization of troop deployments.

In fact, it is speculated that the Russian Defense Minister requested additional troop deployments during his recent visit to North Korea, and Chairman Kim has responded by supporting Russia's territorial integrity and so-called unification policy.

[Hong Min/Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification: "Various military cooperation matters exchanged between North Korea and Russia have now gained a more institutional basis, so I think it will likely become a factor that promotes (military cooperation) further in the future."]

During the welcoming performance for the Russian Defense Minister, North Korea displayed scenes of Russia's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches as the stage background, which indirectly demanded related technology, raising concerns about whether Russia will transfer key technologies such as atmospheric re-entry technology.

This is KBS News, Go Eun-hee.