Kim Jong Un Reaffirms North Korean Support for Russia's War in Ukraine

Key facts

In an official exchange between Moscow and Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reiterated his government's full backing of Russia's war operations in Ukraine. According to reporting by Arpan Rai, the communication was issued in reply to an official message sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who conveyed the Kremlin's gratitude for the personnel and material support provided by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

In his reply, Kim framed the war in Ukraine as a legitimate and necessary defense of Russian national integrity, explicitly using the phrase "sacred war" to describe Moscow's military campaign. He emphasized that Pyongyang remains committed to solidifying its strategic partnership with the Russian Federation and will not falter in offering aid to Russian forces.

This exchange marks a continuation of high-level correspondence between the two heads of state, reflecting an operational alliance that has deepened significantly since 2023. While specific numbers of additional deployments were not detailed in the public statements, the diplomatic exchange highlights the ongoing cooperation between the two heavily sanctioned governments.

Why it matters

Kim Jong Un's explicit declaration of long-term support for Moscow's war effort underscores the formalization of a transnational security axis linking East Asia directly to the European theater of conflict. The deployment of North Korean personnel alongside Russian troops represents one of the most substantial foreign interventions in a European war since the mid-twentieth century, shifting the military landscape of the conflict.

For Russian forces, North Korean assistance provides critical operational relief. Russia has faced severe material depletion and infantry shortages across its extended frontline in eastern and southern Ukraine. Access to North Korea's massive stockpiles of Soviet-caliber munitions—such as 152mm artillery shells and 122mm rockets—alongside direct troop infusions has allowed Russian military commanders to sustain offensive pressure while offsetting their own high casualty rates.

For North Korea, the arrangement yields substantial strategic benefits. Participating in active military operations allows the Korean People's Army (KPA) to gain real-world combat experience in modern warfare, including tactics involving mass artillery, electronic warfare, and drone integration. Furthermore, in exchange for military personnel and ammunition, North Korea secures critical Russian assistance in energy, food supply, and advanced defense technologies, including technical assistance for its satellite launches and missile programs. This cooperation directly undermines decades of international non-proliferation efforts and severely weakens the efficacy of global sanction frameworks.

Relations between Moscow and Pyongyang date back to the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948, with the Soviet Union serving as its primary patron throughout the Cold War and providing critical military aid during the 1950–1953 Korean War. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, economic and strategic ties contracted sharply as Russia integrated into global financial markets and supported UN Security Council sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile developments.

This dynamic reversed dramatically following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Facing global diplomatic isolation and sweeping economic sanctions from Western nations, Moscow sought alternative supply chains for munitions and equipment. High-level defense consultations accelerated throughout late 2022 and 2023, culminating in Kim Jong Un's visit to Russia's Far East in September 2023, where he toured the Vostochny Cosmodrome and military facilities alongside Putin.

In June 2024, Putin conducted a state visit to Pyongyang—his first in nearly a quarter of a century—where the two leaders signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty. Article 4 of the treaty stipulates that if either country is subjected to an armed invasion and enters a state of war, the other will immediately provide military and other assistance using all available means. By late 2024, Western and South Korean intelligence agencies confirmed that North Korea had initiated the deployment of an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 KPA soldiers, including elite special operations units, to western Russia's Kursk region to help push back Ukrainian military incursions.

Simultaneously, North Korea shipped thousands of shipping containers packed with millions of artillery rounds and KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles to Russian arsenals. These transfers directly violated UN Security Council resolutions—resolutions that Russia, as a permanent member of the Security Council, had previously voted to approve.

Reaction

While official reactions to this specific diplomatic exchange are developing, previous statements from international bodies and national defense ministries outline clear positions across key capitals.

The Ukrainian government has consistently warned that the integration of North Korean combat troops and weapons systems escalates the geopolitical scale of the war, transforming a regional European security crisis into an international war involving East Asian armed forces. Kyiv has repeatedly called on its Western allies to remove restrictions on long-range strikes inside Russian territory and to accelerate the supply of modern air defense platforms to intercept North Korean-manufactured ballistic missiles.

In Seoul, the South Korean government has strongly denounced the growing defense cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow as a severe threat to national and regional security. South Korea's Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have repeatedly noted that any military assistance to North Korea that aids its nuclear or missile capabilities violates international law. Officials in Seoul have indicated that South Korea may reconsider its policy against directly supplying lethal weaponry to Ukraine if Russian assistance to Pyongyang transfers advanced military technology.

Officials in Washington and at NATO headquarters in Brussels have described the DPRK-Russia military alliance as a sign of strategic desperation from Moscow, while simultaneously emphasizing the threat it poses to both European stability and Indo-Pacific security. NATO Secretary General and U.S. State Department spokespersons have called on China to use its influence over both Moscow and Pyongyang to curb actions that destabilize global order.

What we don't know yet

Significant operational details regarding the North Korean military commitment remain undisclosed or unverified by independent observers. Among the major open questions are:

What to watch

Several key indicators will determine the trajectory of the Russia-North Korea alliance over the coming months:

This report contains information originally published by Arpan Rai.