North Korea and Belarus sign friendship and cooperation treaty

North Korea and Belarus”s strongmen leaders signed a “friendship and cooperation” treaty on Thursday, state media said, after Kim Jong-un “warmly” welcomed President Alexander Lukashenko to Pyongyang for a maiden visit, Report informs via The Guardian.

Besides supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine – about 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 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.

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

Kim “gladly” met and “warmly” welcomed Lukashenko at the start of the two-day visit, the Korean central news agency reported, which followed a meeting last year in Beijing.