Kremlin says its mutual defence agreement with North Korea is 'unambiguous'

Russia said on Tuesday that a treaty it signed with North Korea earlier this year provides for "strategic cooperation" in all areas, but declined to be drawn on how a mutual defence clause in the agreement could be put into practice. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when he visited Pyongyang in June, and said it included a mutual assistance clause under which each side agreed to help the other repel external aggression. Asked if this meant that Russia could be drawn into backing Pyongyang in a conflict on the Korean peninsula or that North Korea could side with Russia in a conflict with the West, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the treaty wording was "quite unambiguous" and needed no clarification.