Published On 28/10/2025
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Last update: 11:29 (Mecca time)
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that relations between Moscow and Pyongyang are developing “according to the drawn up plan,” while receiving North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in the Kremlin.
For her part, Choe Son Hui said that she would convey Putin’s “warm greetings” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Putin and Kim concluded a strategic partnership treaty last year that included a mutual defense agreement, while North Korea sent troops, artillery munitions and missiles to Russia to support Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Ukraine and South Korea estimate that Pyongyang has deployed more than 10,000 soldiers in the war in Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and military technology from Russia.
South Korea’s intelligence agency estimated in September that about 2,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed in the war.
Chu held discussions in Moscow today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which dealt with bilateral relations and developments in the situation in Asia.
Increasing tensions
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the two ministers agreed that the growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia stem from “the aggressive actions of the United States and its allies.”
In 2024, the two countries signed a mutual defense agreement, after an official visit by Putin to Pyongyang.
North Korea participated in the Russian war by sending thousands of soldiers to confront the Ukrainian forces that took control of a small part of the Russian border region of Kursk, between the end of 2024 and the spring of 2025.
Lavrov also touched on the North Korean participation in the fighting, stressing that “the Russians will never forget the exploits achieved by the soldiers and officers of the Korean People’s Army in the Kursk region,” considering that these military achievements will strengthen the “ties of friendship” and “historic partnership” between the two countries.
For more than a year, senior Russian officials have been meeting with their North Korean counterparts on a regular basis in their countries.
In mid-July, Kim Jong Un reassured Russia about his country’s “unconditional” support in confronting Ukraine, during a visit by Sergei Lavrov to Pyongyang.