SEOUL, March 26 (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Pyongyang on Thursday, Belarusian state media reported.
Belarus’s state news agency BelTA said Lukashenko told Kim during talks that relations between Minsk and Pyongyang were entering a “fundamentally new stage,” and reported that the two sides had signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.
On Wednesday, Lukashenko visited Pyongyang’s Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to former North Korean leaders and laid a bouquet sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin in addition to a flower basket under his own name, North Korean state media KCNA said on Thursday.
Lukashenko and his delegation were welcomed by Kim with a 21-gun salute, Pyongyang citizens and schoolchildren waving the flags of both countries, and a march-past of the North Korean army’s honor guard, KCNA said.
KCNA has not reported the signing of any treaty or provided details of talks between the two leaders.
Belarus is one of a small number of countries that openly backed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and ties between Minsk and Pyongyang have drawn closer since North Korea sent thousands of troops to support Russia in the war in 2022.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it expected discussions during Lukashenko’s visit to focus on economic cooperation, adding that the visit also appeared aimed at strengthening trilateral coordination among North Korea, Russia and Belarus.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee, Kyu-seok Shim; Editing by Chris Reese and Sonali Paul)
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