Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, has approved a strategic partnership treaty with North Korea that allows for “military and other assistance” from one country to the other.
The treaty, approved on October 24 after originally being agreed by President Vladimir Putin and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in June, brings cooperation between the two countries to a higher level, including a line stating that if one side is attacked and finds itself in a state of war, the other must “immediately provide military and other assistance with all means at its disposal.”
It’s not clear how that clause is to be interpreted, but both South Korea and the United States have recently said they have evidence that North Korean troops are in Russia and appear to be holding training exercises.
Such …