April 11, Pozirk. The education ministries of Belarus and North Korea signed a five-year cooperation agreement on March 26 in Pyongyang, designed to “strengthen ties and foster mutual understanding,” says a document published on the National Legal Internet Portal today.
The agreement was apparently negotiated during the recent Alaksandar Łukašenka’s visit to North Korea, where he met Kim Jong Un and signed a bilateral treaty on friendship and cooperation.
Belarus and North Korea agreed to “engage in exchanges and cooperation in the field of education” and to “promote contacts between institutions and personnel,” according to the document. Academic exchanges and participation in educational events should “expand ties in the field of higher education and disseminate information on each other’s history and culture.”
The agreement will be automatically renewed unless either party wishes to terminate it.
North Korea is a totalitarian state under a strict cult of personality and also under UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear program. Since its foundation in 1948, the power has been handed over from father to son – from Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un.
The Belarusian ruler’s recent visit to North Korea “exceeded all expectations,” his spokeswoman Natalla Ejsmant said earlier, adding that Minsk would “always be happy” to host Kim Jong Un.
Earlier this month, Minsk announced that it will open an embassy in Pyongyang by August 1. Ji Gyong Su, the newly appointed ambassador of North Korea to Belarus, presented his diplomatic credentials to Łukašenka yesterday.
Minsk has sought top-level contacts with North Korea for the last two years. Earlier this year, Łukašenka congratulated Kim Jong Un on his re-election as leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), while Kim congratulated the Belarusian politician on extending his 30-year-long rule in Belarus last year.
