NKorea, Belarus Sign Friendship Treaty 03/26 06:12

   

   (AP) -- 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.