{"id":129999,"date":"2026-08-24T08:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/129999\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T08:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:46:10","slug":"north-korea-belarus-to-sign-visa-waiver-program-as-pyongyang-moves-to-strengthen-alignment-with-moscow-ally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/129999\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea, Belarus to sign visa waiver program as Pyongyang moves to strengthen alignment with Moscow ally"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Belarusian Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui pose for a photograph at a meeting held in Pyongyang in July 2024. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus website) <\/p>\n

North Korea and Belarus are set to sign a visa-waiver agreement, in the latest sign of rapidly expanding ties between Pyongyang and Moscow\u2019s close ally as North Korea deepens a Russia-centered network of cooperation amid the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

According to Belarusian state media, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov said the two countries were nearing an agreement allowing their citizens to travel visa-free, and that the issue was discussed during talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.<\/p>\n

A draft of the agreement has already been prepared, with some details left to be finalized, he said.<\/p>\n

The planned visa waiver follows a sharp acceleration in relations between North Korea and Belarus, both of which have strengthened their alignment with Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n

In March, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko made his first official visit to Pyongyang, where he held a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and signed a treaty on friendship and cooperation.<\/p>\n

The two leaders also agreed to expand cooperation in areas including diplomacy, agriculture, public health and education. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said during the visit that relations between Minsk and Pyongyang had entered a \u201cnew stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two countries have taken further steps to institutionalize their relationship. In April, Belarusian Prime Minister Alexander Turchin signed a government resolution on opening a Belarusian Embassy in North Korea, according to the latest reports.<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s expanding relationship with Belarus comes as Pyongyang has moved dramatically closer to Moscow.<\/p>\n

North Korea has sent troops and military supplies to support Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine, while Russia and North Korea have strengthened military and political cooperation under a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty signed in 2024.<\/p>\n

Belarus, meanwhile, has been one of Moscow\u2019s closest partners, allowing Russian forces to use its territory during the invasion of Ukraine and hosting Russian tactical nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

The growing Pyongyang-Minsk relationship therefore adds another layer to what is emerging as a three-way alignment among North Korea, Russia and Belarus, with cooperation extending beyond political support to diplomacy, security and increasingly practical exchanges between the countries.<\/p>\n

cheesuk@heraldcorp.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui pose for a photograph at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[129],"class_list":["post-129999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pyongyang","tag-pyongyang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}