Pyongyang: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday, marking a significant advancement in bilateral relations. According to a Belarusian news report, the discussions concluded with an agreement to elevate the partnership between the two nations to a "new stage."
According to Yonhap News Agency, Lukashenko's visit to Pyongyang, his first official trip to North Korea, was aimed at expanding cooperation across multiple sectors. The summit talks, which followed Lukashenko's arrival in Pyongyang, underlined the historic ties between Belarus and North Korea that date back to the Soviet Union era. Lukashenko, as quoted by the Belarusian news agency Belta, emphasized that the friendly relations between the two countries had never been interrupted and were now transitioning to a fundamentally new stage.
Earlier reports from North Korea's state media described Lukashenko's reception in Pyongyang as "warm," although there were no immediate reports from North Korean media about the summit's details. Both Belarus and North Korea have shown support for Russia in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine, with North Korea providing troops and weapons while Belarus has allowed Russian forces to use its territory.
Lukashenko and Kim signed a "treaty on friendship and cooperation," which Kim described as a "legal foundation" for the stable development of bilateral relations. Lukashenko referred to the treaty as "fundamental," highlighting that it clearly outlines the goals and principles of mutual interaction and establishes an institutional framework for future collaboration.
During Lukashenko's visit, the two countries are expected to sign around 10 bilateral documents, including agreements on cooperation in education, culture, and sports. This visit follows the reactivation of a joint trade and economic cooperation committee in May of the previous year, a body that had been dormant since its establishment in 1995. Additionally, North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui visited Belarus last October to attend a regional security meeting.
The unification ministry in Seoul speculates that the talks between Kim and Lukashenko likely focused on economic affairs, as part of a strategy to reinforce trilateral cooperation involving Russia.