North Korea and Russia are taking military cooperation to a new level. A Russian delegation was received by Kim Jong Un
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov met, on Sunday, in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with whom he agreed to establish “long-term” bilateral military cooperation, reported the Russian TASS news agency, reported by AFP.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops, as well as missiles and ammunition, to support Russia in its war against Ukraine. They were deployed to the Kursk region in western Russia to push back the Ukrainian army which occupied the area for a year from August 2024 to spring 2025.
South Korea estimates that around 2,000 North Koreans were killed in this war. In return, North Korea receives financial aid, military technology, as well as food and energy from Russia, which allows the communist regime to circumvent tough international sanctions imposed over its nuclear program.
“We agreed with the (North Korean) Ministry of Defense to have military cooperation on a sustainable, long-term basis,” Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said. “This year promises to be at least as rich in terms of bilateral contacts in numerous fields,” Belousov continued.
Gratitude for “brotherly support”
The Speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, Viacheslav Volodin, thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for “liberating Kursk” thanks to the troops sent to repel the Ukrainians.
A Russian delegation attended, on Saturday, Pyongyang to attend the inauguration ceremony of a memorial complex in honor of those killed participating in Moscow's war against Ukraine.
Viacheslav Volodin expressed his “gratitude” to “Kim Jong Un and the Korean people for their brotherly support in liberating Kursk,” TASS reported. “Korean soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers and officers, liberating the Russian land from Ukrainian Nazis,” Volodin continued.
In 2024, the two states signed a military treaty pledging to provide military assistance “without delay” if one of them is attacked.
Only two North Korean soldiers were captured alive and are now in the custody of Ukrainian authorities. Soldiers sent by Kim to Ukraine were ordered to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoners of war. The two soldiers expressed their desire to be released and then sent to South Korea.
