North Korea, Belarus leaders meet in Pyongyang, sign friendship treaty

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held talks in North Korea’s capital on Thursday and signed a friendship and cooperation treaty.

Lukashenko, who was in Pyongyang on a two-day official visit, hailed the document as “fundamental,” and said that relations between the two countries are “entering a new stage,” according to his press service.

“Yes, we didn’t have close cooperation, largely due to our own fault. But I am sincerely pleased to note that cooperation has now significantly intensified,” Lukashenko said.

“In today’s reality of a global transformation, when the global powers openly ignore and violate international law, independent countries need to cooperate more closely, consolidate efforts aimed at protecting their sovereignty and improving the well-being of our citizens,” he said.

Lukashenko’s press service quoted Kim expressing “solidarity and full support” for Belarus and speaking out “against unlawful pressure on Belarus from the West.”

Belarus is a close ally of Russia. Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory as a staging ground for the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and later authorized the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Kim has also tilted his foreign policy toward Moscow in recent years, sending thousands of troops and large quantities of weapons to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine while portraying the North as part of a united front against Washington.

Lukashenko and Kim last met in September 2025 in Beijing.