NORTH Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has vowed “full support” for Russia’s armed forces in what he described as a “fraternal duty”, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the margins of a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War Two.
Reuters reported that in a rare display of trilateral unity, Kim and Putin flanked Chinese President Xi Jinping at the massive Victory Day parade, marking the first time the leaders of North Korea, Russia and China have gathered in such a setting since the early Cold War era.
“Comrade Kim Jong Un and President Putin exchanged candid opinions on important international and regional issues,” North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported.
KCNA said the two leaders had a detailed discussion on long-term strategic cooperation and reaffirmed their “steadfast will” to raise bilateral relations to a higher level.
Putin, according to the same report, “highly praised” North Korean troops and materiel support provided to Moscow in its ongoing war against Ukraine, hailing the relationship between the two countries as one of “trust, friendship and alliance”.
North Korea has been supplying Russia with artillery, missiles and manpower, with South Korea’s intelligence agency estimating that around 2,000 North Korean soldiers sent to fight for Moscow have been killed in action.
The same agency believes Pyongyang is planning to send up to 6,000 additional troops, with approximately 1,000 already stationed in Russia.
Kim’s attendance at the Beijing ceremony marked a diplomatic milestone, giving him the opportunity to meet both Putin and Xi Jinping simultaneously, alongside more than two dozen other world leaders. Photographs released by state media showed Kim smiling as he stood and walked beside his Russian and Chinese counterparts.
The meeting follows the signing of a mutual defence treaty between North Korea and Russia last year, which obliges both nations to assist one another in the event of an armed attack.
While the Kremlin has yet to publicly confirm the full extent of the military cooperation with Pyongyang, Western intelligence services and regional analysts have expressed growing concern about the deepening military and political ties between the two isolated states. - Sept 4, 2025
