Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov was received on Sunday by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang. The two agreed to establish a “long-term” military cooperation between the states.
North Korea has sent thousands of soldiers, missiles, and ammunition to support Russia in the war against Ukraine. Kim’s soldiers were deployed to Kursk, in western Russia, to repel the Ukrainian army, which had occupied the area from August 2024 until the spring of 2025.
South Korea estimates that about 2000 North Koreans have been killed in the war in Ukraine, reports news.ro. In exchange, the regime in Pyongyang would receive financial aid, military technologies, food, and energy from the Russians, thus bypassing the sanctions imposed by the West.
The Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, thanked North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on Sunday for the “liberation of Kursk”.
Several Russian officials were in Pyongyang on Saturday to attend an inauguration ceremony for a memorial complex in memory of the soldiers who died in the war in Ukraine.
In 2024, the regime in Pyongyang and the Kremlin signed a military treaty obliging each party to provide military assistance “without delay” to the other, in the event of an attack.