Russia, North Korea agree 'long-term' military cooperation

Two senior Russian politicians visited North Korea over the weekend, inaugurating a memorial to North Korean troops who died fighting against Ukraine and negotiating a new defense cooperation agreement set to run until 2031. 

The two countries' military, political and economic cooperation has intensified amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Pyongyang offering military support to Moscow, not least to push Ukrainian forces back from the Russian border region of Kursk. 

Moscow and Pyongyang already signed a mutual defense deal in 2024 amid a meeting between Kim Jong Un and President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang that June. 

Defense minister hails new military cooperation agreement

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea, both countries' media reported on Sunday, for talks with Kim and other officials. 

Belousov was set to hold talks with North Korea's top leadership and senior military officials, and to take part in "ceremonial and commemorative events" in the capital. Images released by Russia's Defense Ministry showed him embracing Kim. 

"We agreed with the DPRK Defense Ministry to place our military cooperation on a stable, long-term footing," Belousov said, using the intials of North Korea's official name. 

"We are ready to sign a plan this year for Russian-Korean military cooperation for the period of 2027-2031," he said, in talks also including Defense Minister No Kwang.

Duma chairman attends memorial to North Korean soldiers killed fighting against Ukraine

Belousov also presented military awards to North Korean servicemen who had fought against Ukrainian forces in the Russian border region of Kursk, parts of which Ukraine seized for several months in a counteroffensive. 

North Korea had built a memorial in Pyongyang to its soldiers killed fighting against Ukraine. 

Putin sent Kim a telegram to mark the opening, the Kremlin said, thanking Kim and the soldiers for their efforts to help reclaim the Kursk region for Russia.

The chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin attended an inauguration ceremony in the capital.

Details on North Korean troops casualties fighting for Russia are hard to come by, but South Korea has estimated last September that as many as 2,000 had been killed. Only two North Korean soldiers have been captured by Ukrainian forces.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko