Kathrine Frich
The relationship between Russia and North Korea has deepened since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has turned what was once pragmatic cooperation into something closer to an overt wartime alliance.
A recent message from North Korea’s leader makes that shift unmistakably clear.
Stark New Year message
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin that their partnership had been strengthened by “blood, life and death” during the war in Ukraine, according to a statement released by the state news agency KCNA.
Kim described 2025 as a “truly important year” for relations between Pyongyang and Moscow, saying the alliance had been sealed through shared sacrifice “in the same trench.”
The message was sent as part of Kim’s New Year greetings and was reported by KCNA on Friday.
Troops and casualties
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies estimate that thousands of North Korean soldiers have been deployed to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
Pyongyang publicly confirmed for the first time in April that it had sent troops and acknowledged that North Korean soldiers had died in combat.
Earlier, in December 2024, Kim admitted that at least nine soldiers from an engineering unit were killed during a 120-day mine-clearing mission in Russia’s Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border.
Broader implications
Kim’s message came a day after he ordered an increase in missile production for the coming year, a move analysts link to both domestic military goals and potential exports.
North Korea has stepped up missile testing in recent years, which experts say is intended to refine precision-guided weapons and challenge the United States and South Korea.
The unusually blunt language used in Kim’s letter highlights how the war in Ukraine has reshaped alliances far beyond Europe, binding Moscow and Pyongyang through shared interests and, as Kim put it, shared bloodshed.
Sources: KCNA, South Korean and Western intelligence assessments, WP.
