North Korea and Belarus leaders meet in Pyongyang and sign a 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.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Friday that the leaders discussed boosting high-level cooperation and visits and exchanged their views on unspecified “international and regional issues of mutual concern.”

“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.

Belarusian and North Korean officials also signed a number of other agreements and memorandums on cooperation in specific areas, such as education, healthcare, agriculture, and others.

“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,” Lukashenko 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.” KCNA said Lukashenko told Kim their governments share the “same opinion on international affairs.”

The leaders exchanged gifts, with Kim presenting Lukashenko with a sword and a large vase bearing the image of the Belarusian leader. Lukashenko gave Kim an assault rifle manufactured in Belarus, among other things. “Just in case enemies show up,” Lukashenko said.

Kim also hosted Lukashenko at an ice-skating show and a formal reception before personally seeing him off at Pyongyang’s airport, according to Belarusian and North Korean reports.

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.

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AP writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed from Seoul, South Korea.