Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko began his first official visit to North Korea on Wednesday where he was due to meet Kim Jong Un.
From human rights abuses to closeness to Russia, the two countries and leaders -- who met at a military parade in China last year -- have a lot in common.
- One-man rule -
Once described as “Europe’s last dictator”, Lukashenko has ruled Belarus and its nine million people since 1994, almost all the eastern European country’s post-Soviet history.
He is serving his seventh term as president after elections that observers and rights groups have said were rigged. “I am a dictator, it’s hard for me to understand democracy,” he once said.
Kim is the third member of his dynasty to rule after his father and grandfather, inheriting power in 2011 in his 20s and immediately stamping his authority and purging rivals.
His uncle Jang Song Thaek was executed in 2013 and in 2017 his eldest half-brother Kim Jong Nam was assassinated with a nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur airport.
While plain-speaking Lukashenko’s beginnings were humble, snappy-dresser Kim was schooled in Switzerland and leads a life of luxury, especially when compared to most of his 26 million compatriots.
- Potential successors -
Some analysts suggest that Lukashenko, 71, is grooming his son Nikolai, who has accompanied his father to many official ceremonies, to succeed him.
Keen smoker Kim, in his early 40s, has increasingly been pictured with his teenage daughter Ju Ae, including firing pistols and riding a tank together this month.
Kim Yo Jong, the leader’s younger sister, has meanwhile emerged as one of the most powerful figures in North Korea.
- Repression -
Lukashenko has jailed thousands of political opponents in his decades in power.
Before and after presidential elections in 2020, hundreds of thousands of protestors took to the streets.
His security services responded by arresting tens of thousands in sweeping crackdowns that saw hundreds beaten and tortured in custody, according to the UN’s human rights office.
The North Korean government is accused of torture, public executions, forced labour and severe restrictions on freedom of expression and movement.
It is said to operate four political prison camps where up to 65,000 people are subjected to hard labour, according to a 2025 report by the Korea Institute for National Unification.
- Russia -
Lukashenko spent years trying to pitch himself as a bridge between Europe and Moscow, but now he is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies.
With ties with the European Union already shattered by his 2020 crackdown, Lukashenko allowed Putin to use Belarus as a springboard to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow stationed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus -- a threat against Ukraine and also NATO-member neighbours Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
North Korea has also backed Russia in its war, sending thousands of soldiers, primarily in the Kursk region, as well as artillery shells and missiles.
Around 2,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded, according to estimates from South Korea.
Russia and North Korea signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2024 that obliges either side to provide “military and other assistance” should the other be attacked.
Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies from Russia in return.
President Vladimir Putin last visited in 2024.
This has enabled Pyongyang to lessen dependence on its main long-term backer, China.
Lukashenko meanwhile has visited Beijing multiple times, seeking together with China and Russia to build what they call a “multipolar world” to break Western hegemony.
- Enter Trump -
Belarus and North Korea are both under a barrage of Western sanctions, in Pyongyang’s case over its nuclear programme.
North Korea is estimated to have dozens of nuclear warheads and the fissile material for many more, and has unveiled increasingly sophisticated delivery systems.
US President Donald Trump has sought to build ties with Belarus in his second term, easing sanctions and welcoming it to his “Board of Peace”.
Belarus has released several hundred prisoners in recent months, largely due to US efforts, although many more remain behind bars.
Reports have said Trump wants to invite Lukashenko to the White House.
Trump met Kim three times in his first term and there has been speculation of a re-run when the US president makes his delayed upcoming visit to China.
Perhaps emboldened by its new closeness to Russia, Trump’s comment in October that he was “100 percent” open to meeting Kim again went unanswered.