Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, met Comrade Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation, in the capital city of Pyongyang on June 19, 2024.

At the summit, the top leaders of the two countries adopted the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the DPRK and Russia, putting the bilateral relations with deep-rooted traditions onto a new strategic level. The treaty provides both parties with a legal framework for realizing the far-reaching plans of their own state leadership and the desires of their people to build a powerful state while firmly defending the regional and global security environment in conformity with their common interests.

Since the conclusion of the historic treaty, the DPRK-Russia friendly relations have been further developing into the invincible ties of comrades-in-arms and lasting strategic relationship.

General Secretary Kim Jong Un received the secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the minister of Defence, the minister of Natural Resources and Ecology and other members of high-level Russian delegations on their visit to the DPRK, and had a talk with them.

Meanwhile, President Putin met and had a talk with a secretary of the WPK Central Committee, the foreign minister of the DPRK and other members of major DPRK delegations.

Under the guidance of the top leaders of the DPRK and Russia, plans for boosting exchange and cooperation in various fields including security have been discussed and promoted between the two countries.

In April the combat sub-units of the armed forces of the DPRK helped liberate Kursk by annihilating the Ukrainian troops which had invaded the Russian territory, thus showing how efficiently the treaty is being enforced.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin announced in a statement on April 28 that the participation of the combat sub-units of the armed forces of the DPRK in the operations for liberating the Kursk region of the Russian Federation was in full compliance with international law and in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Russian Federation and the DPRK, dated June 19, 2024, more specifically, Article 4 of the Treaty that stipulates each of the parties shall provide immediate military assistance in case the other party is under an armed attack.

Our Korean friends’ move was guided by a sense of solidarity, justice and genuine comradery, and we highly appreciate this and are sincerely grateful, personally to President of the State Affairs of the DPRK Kim Jong Un , as well as the entire leadership and the people of the DPRK, he said in his statement.

While practical measures are positively being taken to strengthen bilateral exchange and cooperation under the treaty, a joint friendship gathering of the young people of the two countries took place at the Central Youth Hall in Pyongyang on April 20, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on April 30 simultaneously in Rason Municipality, a border city of the DPRK, and Khasan, a Russian counterpart city.

The deepening comradely relations and friendship between the peoples of the two countries serve as a reliable strategic bulwark and engine in defending international peace and security and stepping up the building of a new, multipolar world.

Invariable is the desire and will of the two countries to build a new world, peaceful and just, by their concerted efforts on the basis of the new inter-state treaty and to closely work together in the sacred journey for the wellbeing of the two peoples and the development of the friendly ties, true to the noble intention of their top leaders.

Yang Ryon Hui