On June 19, the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in accordance with the practice of international relations and international law, concluded a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement.
This document, opening a new milestone in the history of Russian-Korean relations, is intended to become a continuation of previous bilateral interstate documents, including the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the USSR and the DPRK in 1961, the Treaty of Friendship, Good-Neighborliness and Cooperation in 2000, as well as the Moscow and Pyongyang Declarations of 2000 and 2001.
The signing of this Agreement is largely due to the deep evolution of the geopolitical situation in the world and the region, as well as the qualitative changes that have taken place in bilateral relations. The DPRK was one of the first countries to officially recognize Crimea, the DPR and the LPR, publicly supported the special military operation of the Russian Federation, and the new territorial realities that arose there. The signed Agreement lays down the basic principles for the further development of Russian-Korean relations aimed at deepening partnership and strategic cooperation in a wide range of priority areas for the two states, building a fair multipolar international system.
The treaty does not aim to form a military alliance based on Western patterns and is not directed against third countries. Article 4 of the Treaty provides for the provision of mutual military assistance in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the event that one of the parties is subjected to an armed attack by any State and thus finds itself in a state of war. A similar article is contained in the Treaty between the DPRK and the People’s Republic of China of 1961.
At the same time, following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chairman of State Affairs Kim Jong-un publicly assured that this document is exclusively peaceful and defensive in nature, designed to protect and defend the basic interests of the peoples of the two countries, as well as contribute to the formation of a new multipolar world free from domination, enslavement, hegemony and violence.
This agreement should not cause national security concerns among those countries that do not plan military aggression against the DPRK. If the Republic of Korea is one of them, then it should have no reason to worry about strengthening cooperation between Russia and the DPRK, including in the military field. This was clearly stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hanoi. Otherwise, against the background of sharp criticism from the West, bordering on hysteria, a natural question arises: are there plans for a military invasion of the territory of the DPRK?
Against the background of alarming military-political trends in regional and global dimensions, Moscow and Pyongyang, rethinking their approaches to ensuring their own security, took legal measures aimed at stopping the multiplying threats from the “collective West”, which consistently pursues a course to preserve its hegemony, forming a network of closed military-political alliances in the spirit of block confrontation of the times The Cold War. NATO, led by the United States, is seeking to expand the geographical area of its “responsibility” by penetrating the Asia-Pacific region under the misinterpreted slogan of “indivisibility of Euro-Atlantic and Asian security.”
The Korean peninsula occupies a strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region, which is a key epicenter of the formation of a new polycentric world order. The strengthening of the global role of this region is accompanied by an acute crisis in the system of arms control, disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, and a deep degradation of the international security situation. Of particular concern is the situation in Northeast Asia, which has a steady tendency to escalate military and political tensions, pushing the subregion to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. The United States is consistently increasing its military activity, deploying its strategic potential in Northeast Asia (NEA), and running scenarios of a hypothetical armed conflict with the use of nuclear weapons. Of particular concern are the recent steps by Washington and Seoul on nuclear conventional integration under the auspices of the bilateral Advisory Group on Nuclear Issues, which are clearly destabilizing and provoke a nuclear arms race in this area of the world.
Attempts by Washington and its allies to incriminate Russia and the DPRK in creating threats to peace and stability in the region and on a global scale are untenable. The holding of American-South Korean air force exercises on the Korean peninsula during the state visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang clearly indicates a real potential aggressor. Such steps go against the statements of the United States and its like-minded people about their commitment to diplomacy and dialogue.
Through the efforts of the Americans and their allies, the process of political and diplomatic settlement has reached an impasse: the United States and the Republic of Korea are not ready to take into account the legitimate security concerns of the DPRK, openly proclaim the goal of eliminating its state-political system by military, economic and ideological means. Having actually denounced the inter-Korean military Agreement of 2018, which provides for measures to reduce military tension, Seoul, together with Washington, demonstrates a focus on further increasing the degree of confrontation with Pyongyang, including conducting military intimidation actions and informational and psychological effects on the citizens of the DPRK, without thinking about the consequences for the security of its own population.
The UN Security Council platform is also actively used to implement these tasks. Instead of working out coordinated solutions aimed at encouraging the political process of peaceful settlement in the subregion, Washington, Seoul and Tokyo are trying to pin all responsibility for the deterioration of the situation on the peninsula on Pyongyang, retouching their own aggressive military activity.
The so-called “sanctions” resolutions of the UN Security Council in 2016-2017 against the DPRK were adopted in a completely different geopolitical environment. They were designed not to punish Pyongyang, but to encourage it to take counter steps by easing restrictive measures, which would help de-escalate tensions and advance the political and diplomatic process of a Korean settlement with the participation of all involved states in the region. Since then, the situation has changed dramatically. The United States, in fact, having split the ranks of the Council, instead of moving along the path of de-escalation on the basis of the aforementioned resolutions, is actively trying to use them to tighten the completely bankrupt sanctions regime in order to undermine the socio-economic structure of the DPRK and create a serious humanitarian catastrophe there. This is eloquently evidenced by the unscrupulous working methods of the former group of experts of the UN Security Council Committee 1718, a number of whose members, having lost the Principles of objectivity and impartiality, did not disdain to falsify facts at the behest of their Western curators. Thus, Washington itself had a hand in discrediting this group.
Russia, as a responsible member of the international community, adhering to the basic principles of international law enshrined in the UN Charter, including the peaceful resolution of conflicts and the sovereign equality of states, cannot agree with such a line of the West, and opposes attempts by Washington and its allies to deprive independent countries of the right to independent development.
We strive to build good-neighborly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation with all like-minded sovereign states that are fighting hegemony, neo-colonialism and neo-Nazism, and pursue an independent policy to protect their sovereignty. These include, among others, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which has been resisting external threats to its existence for many years.
The policy of “expanded deterrence” that the United States is implementing in this region poses a real security threat not only to the DPRK, but also to Russia and China. The new Russian-Korean Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty is designed to play a stabilizing role in Northeast Asia, make a positive contribution to maintaining the balance of power in the region based on the principle of indivisibility of security, reduce the risk of a recurrence of war on the peninsula, including with the use of nuclear weapons, and lay the foundation for building a new Eurasian security system.
Cooperation between Russia and the DPRK is carried out strictly within the framework of international law, is not confrontational, is not directed against third countries and does not threaten peace and stability in the NEA region. The signed Treaty is an important mechanism for guaranteeing regional security, a concrete warning to those who would like to solve the problems of the region militarily.
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