North Korea, Belarus sign ‘friendship and cooperation’ treaty

SEOUL – North Korea and Belarus’s strongmen leaders signed a “friendship and cooperation” treaty on March 26, state media reported, after Mr Kim Jong Un “warmly” welcomed President Alexander Lukashenko to Pyongyang for a maiden visit.

Besides supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine – around 2,000 North Korean soldiers are thought to have been killed – both nations are subject to Western sanctions and are accused of gross human rights violations.

“The friendly relations between our states, born during the era of the Soviet Union, have never been interrupted. Today, thanks to comprehensive and steady development, we are entering a fundamentally new phase,” Belarusian state news agency BelTA quoted Mr Lukashenko as saying.

“In the modern realities of global transformation – at a time when the world’s major powers openly ignore and violate the norms of international law – independent countries must cooperate more closely and consolidate their efforts aimed at protecting their sovereignty and improving the well-being of their citizens,” he said.

“We oppose the illegitimate pressure on Belarus from the West and express our support and understanding for the measures taken by the leadership of Belarus aimed at ensuring social and political stability and economic development,” BelTA quoted Mr Kim as saying.

Earlier BelTA showed Mr Kim and Mr Lukashenko hugging at a lavish welcome programme on March 25 involving an artillery salute and goose-stepping soldiers before a large flag-waving crowd at Kim Il Sung Square.

Mr Kim “gladly” met and “warmly” welcomed Mr Lukashenko at the start of the two-day visit, the Korean Central News Agency reported, which followed a 2025 meeting in Beijing.

Mr Lukashenko visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun – where the embalmed bodies of Mr Kim’s father and grandfather lie in state – to pay his respects, flanked by top North Korean officials, the report said.

Mr Lukashenko laid a bouquet on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, it added.

In another event, Mr Lukashenko laid a wreath at the Liberation Tower and observed a moment of silence with Mr Kim “in memory of the fallen fighters of the Soviet Army who dedicated their precious lives to the sacred war for Korea’s liberation”, KCNA said, referring to the end of Japanese colonial rule in 1945 at the close of World War II.

Photos released by KCNA showed the two leaders greeting each other, with Mr Lukashenko placing a hand on Mr Kim’s back as they smiled, while North Koreans in the background waved the two countries’ flags.

Another image showed Mr Kim introducing his officials to Mr Lukashenko.

Multipolar

Belarus and North Korea are part of a push driven by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mr Putin to create what they call a “multipolar world” to break Western hegemony.

Both nations have provided Moscow assistance in its war in Ukraine, with Pyongyang dispatching ground troops and weapons and Minsk serving as a launch pad for Russia’s invasion in 2022.

South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have estimated that the North has sent thousands of soldiers to Russia, primarily to the Kursk region, along with artillery shells, missiles and rocket systems.

Russia and North Korea signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2024 that obliges either side to provide “military and other assistance” should the other be attacked.

Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies from Russia, helping Pyongyang reduce its reliance on its long-time backer China.

US President Donald Trump has sought to build ties with Belarus in his second term, easing sanctions and welcoming it to his “Board of Peace”.

Mr Trump met Mr Kim three times in his first term, and there has been speculation of a re-run when the US president makes his visit – delayed by the Iran war – to China on May 14-15.

Cosmetics

Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov said that in addition to the treaty of friendship and cooperation, the two sides would agree to cooperate in an array of fields from agriculture to information.

“Our greatest interest... is strengthening truly friendly, partnership relations. We have friends here, and they are waiting for us. Just as we await them in Belarus,” he told state news agency BelTA.

Trade between the two countries is “modest”, but areas for growth include Belarus exporting pharmaceutical products and food to North Korea, Mr Ryzhenkov said.

“Meanwhile, various cosmetic products, which are renowned for their quality and affordable prices, can be imported from the DPRK,” he added, using the initials of the North’s official name.

The visit is intended to “show solidarity” among nations opposed to the Western order, Ms Lee Ho-ryung of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses told AFP.

“Kim will try to use the occasion to raise its diplomatic profile and strengthen solidarity among the so-called anti-Western bloc,” she said. AFP