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Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea

Expert views Russia-North Korea treaty as counter to US plans for Asian NATO

The Moscow-Pyongyang treaty indicates a very deep partnership, with the big question now being how large a military and political component it will have

MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. The comprehensive strategic partnership treaty Russia and North Korea are planning to sign is a response to the plans on the part of the United States, Japan and South Korea to establish an "Asian NATO," a Russian expert told TASS.

"This will come as a response, because the Washington-Tokyo-Seoul triangle has been far more institutionalized than the triangle between Moscow, Beijing and Pyongyang which is simply made up of countries facing a common threat," Konstantin Asmolov, leading research fellow at the Korean Studies Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of China and Contemporary Asia. While the Western triangle has been transforming into an Asian NATO, the allegedly clandestine cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang is being actively cited as the reason for its existence, the researcher explained.

The Moscow-Pyongyang treaty indicates a very deep partnership, with the big question now being how large a military and political component it will have.

"Quite possibly, the strengthening of contact between Moscow and Pyongyang will be another step toward establishing a new world order," he added as he referred to an article by Russian President Vladimir Putin for North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper. In it, the Russian leader described Pyongyang as a steadfast ally, ready to confront the collective West’s ambition to prevent the emergence of a multipolar world as opposed to the US-led rules-based order.

Earlier, Putin approved a draft comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with North Korea for signing at a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The Kremlin announced on Monday that the president would pay a state visit to North Korea on June 18-19. Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters that a treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and North Korea may be signed following Putin’s trip to Pyongyang. He explained that such a treaty was needed amid the profound changes taking place globally and that the document would not target third countries.

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