Nuclear weapons for North Korea with help from Putin?

NATO fears that North Korea's nuclear weapons programme could take a big step forward now that it has signed a pact with Russia.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, the presidents of Russia and North Korea respectively, signed a pact on Wednesday during Putin's state visit to Pyongyang. The pact states, among other things, that the two countries will come to each other's aid if attacked. In the West, this leads to widespread concern about Kim Jong-un's nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea has been conducting nuclear tests since 2006. The new pact would potentially give Pyongyang access to Moscow's knowledge of nuclear weapons. According to NBC News, Putin offers the technology for nuclear submarines and ballistic missiles in exchange for North Korean weapons that Putin can use in its war with Ukraine.

Details of the pact between Moscow and Pyongyang were not disclosed. The Tass news agency reported that Putin sees the pact purely as defence and that the Russian president does not rule out cooperation between the two countries on military-technical matters.

(Tagtik/Source: NBC, Guardian/Illustration picture: picture alliance / YONHAPNEWS AGENCY | Yonhap)

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