North Korea’s Kim Jong Un says he will continue to support Russia’s policies: KCNA

SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will continue to support Russia’s policies and he discussed bolstering military ties with Moscow, state media KCNA reported, as analysts said such cooperation looked set to endure beyond the war in Ukraine.

A Russian delegation including Defence Minister Andrei Belousov attended a completion ceremony for a memorial honouring North Korean soldiers killed while fighting in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged an incursion in 2024, KCNA said on April 27.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022 and still occupies around a fifth of the country.

Mr Belousov said he had agreed with North Korean officials to put military cooperation on a stable, long-term footing and to sign a cooperation plan covering the 2027 to 2031 period later in 2026, Russian news agencies reported on April 26.

The five-year cooperation plan “points to preparations for the post-Ukraine war period,” said Professor Lim Eul-chul from the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.

“This raises the possibility that their broad political, military and economic alignment is likely to continue even if the war ends, with the relationship entering the stage of an institutional alliance.”

Mr Kim said in a speech marking the memorial’s completion that North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces had “wiped out the aggressors,” adding that this had thwarted what he described as “the United States’ and the West’s hegemonic ambitions and military adventurism”, KCNA said.

“The North Korean government would continue to fully support Russia’s policies of defending its sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests,” Mr Kim said, according to KCNA.

Russia ​and North Korea in 2024 signed a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty” during a visit to Pyongyang by ​Russian President ​Vladimir ⁠Putin.

The pact includes a mutual defence provision.

North Korea sent an estimated 14,000 troops to fight with Russian forces in Kursk after the two countries agreed a mutual defence pact.

South Korean, Ukrainian and Western officials said they suffered heavy casualties with more than 6,000 North Korean soldiers killed in the fighting.

KCNA said Mr Kim discussed with Mr Belousov the international and regional political situation, and a range of issues aimed at further developing military and political cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

In return for sending troops and munitions, Pyongyang has received economic and military technology assistance from Russia, according to South Korean intelligence assessments.

‘Stars of the Motherland concert’

Mr Kim also met with Mr Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of Russia’s Parliament and a close ally of Mr Putin, and reaffirmed the two countries’ intention to deepen bilateral ties in line with their comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, KCNA said.

This was echoed in a letter from Mr Putin on the occasion of the memorial’s completion ceremony, which said “through joint efforts, Russia and North Korea would continue to strengthen their comprehensive strategic partnership”, according to KCNA.

A memorial concert called “Stars of the Motherland” was also held in honour of the fallen North Korean troops, KCNA said.

Mr Kim has steadily moved to elevate the North Korean troops who fought for Russia in the Kursk region into symbols of sacrifice and loyalty, using state ceremonies and memorial projects to publicly honour their role.

“The souls of the fallen will live forever with the great honour they defended,” he said in a handwritten message at the neoclassical-style memorial building on April 25, according to KCNA. REUTERS