Russia, North Korea discuss military ties at Pyongyang memorial ceremony

A memorial for North Korean troops killed in Russia’s war in Ukraine opened in Pyongyang as Kim Jong Un and Russian officials moved to deepen military cooperation, underscoring how the relationship has expanded beyond battlefield expediency into a more durable alignment.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov attended the ceremony, which North Korea said honored troops killed fighting in Russia’s Kursk region after Ukrainian forces launched an incursion there in 2024. The event gave Pyongyang a rare public stage to commemorate its role in a European war and to present that involvement as part of a broader political partnership with Moscow.

Kim said North Korea would continue to support Russia’s policies, a message that reinforced the direction of the relationship. Russian officials said a new defense arrangement was being prepared, and the two sides discussed a long-term military cooperation plan as they gathered in the North Korean capital. The ceremony followed the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty signed in Pyongyang in June 2024, a deal that sharply elevated ties between Kim and Vladimir Putin and is widely viewed as a mutual-defense framework.

The scale of North Korea’s involvement has become clearer over time. South Korean intelligence and Ukrainian officials have said North Korea sent troops to Russia and suffered heavy casualties in the fighting. Late-2024 estimates cited by South Korean intelligence put North Korean losses at at least 100 killed and nearly 1,000 wounded. Other South Korean and Ukrainian assessments have put the total losses higher, a sign of how costly the deployment has been for Pyongyang even as it has given Moscow extra manpower.

The implications reach well beyond the battlefield in eastern Ukraine. For Russia, North Korean troops add personnel at a time when Moscow continues to absorb heavy losses in its war. For North Korea, the deployment offers combat experience and a possible path to military technology transfers that could improve its own forces. Ukraine and its allies have warned that the growing partnership threatens security in Europe and Northeast Asia, where closer Russia-North Korea coordination could complicate U.S. and allied planning around South Korea and Japan.