Putin, Kim Agree to Immediately Offer Military Aid If Attacked

  • Mutual defense deal signed after Putin-Kim talks in Pyongyang
  • Pact similar to a 1961 deal signed during the Cold War
In a pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Vladimir Putin, right, with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, on June 19Photographer: Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to provide immediate military assistance if one of them is attacked, reviving an agreement dating back to the Cold War in a move likely to unsettle the US and its partners.

The two leaders signed the deal Wednesday during Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years. Kim called the pact “the most powerful treaty” signed between the two countries and one that elevates their ties to an alliance.