Since the Russian invasion in Ukraine began, a doubt has remained despite the apparent evidence. Neither the videos, nor the testimonies, not even the capture of prisoners of North Korea by Ukraine ended up confirming to the entire planet that, indeed, Pyongyang was fighting with Moscow. That moment of doubt has come to an end. Both nations have confirmed how far their ties arrive.
It is official. After months of rumors, Russia and North Korea publicly confirmed that North Korean troops have been fighting on Russian soil next to Moscow’s forces in the war against Ukraine. The announcement, almost simultaneously by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, celebrated the role of thousands of North Korean soldiers who, according to both leaders, contributed decisively to the “complete release” of the Russian border region of Kursk, a territory that had been briefly occupied by Ukrainian troops during the previous summer.
Thus and according to the figures that move, North Korea has already sent about 14,000 soldiers, mainly special forces, and replaced to the more than 4,000 that, according to southern Korea estimates, have died or results injured since 2023. But there are much more, since others of the sending of military personnel, Pyongyang has supplied millions of artillery projectiles and ballistic missiles that Moscow has used against cities Ukraine.
Common objective. The joint recognition of this collaboration marks not only a military intensification but also diplomatic, at a time when both nations seek to strengthen their international position against the United States. For Russia, the direct involvement of foreign troops allows you to snatch an important negotiation resource (Kursk’s partial control) just when Trump presses by a rapid resolution of the conflict.
For North Korea, having poured blood on the Russian battlefield creates a kind of symbolic and political debt in Putin, expanding the margin of Kim Jong-un maneuver in future negotiations with Washington, including its stagnant nuclear program.
Symbolism and propaganda. The New York Times told that in North Korea, Kim ordered to erect a monument in honor of fallen soldiers in Russia, a gesture that seeks to institutionalize this alliance as a brotherhood sealed by military sacrifice. Putin, on the other hand, exalted the Korean combatants as heroes worthy of the same recognition as their Russian peers, a statement aimed at strengthening the internal narrative of the Kremlin and to consolidate international cooperation that depends more and more authoritarian regimes.
The alliance is based not only on tactical interests but also on concrete benefits: North Korea, subject to hard sanctions, would be receiving in return direct economic aid and advanced military technologies that could improve their arms capacity. According to experts, it is not ruled out that Pyongyang sends more troops or expands his presence in the conflict with the aim of deepening his strategic links with Moscow.
A clandestine arsenal. According to the Guardian and focused on arms aid, the use of a North Korean ballistic missile in a Russian attack that left 12 dead in kyiv already put the depth of this collaboration in the foreground. It was a KN-23 missile, equipped with an eyelet of up to a ton, which according to Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence services is part of a broader delivery of at least 148 kn-23 and KN-24 missiles sent by Pyongyang since the late 2023.
To this is added the supply of millions of artillery projectiles, multiple launch rockets and long -range artillery systems, which have reached the front by 64 maritime and railway shipments carefully tracked, representing up to 70% of the artillery weapons used by Russia on some fronts.
War as a test field. It is another of the slopes of this alliance. The British environment explained that beyond the quantitative, the North Korean contribution has a strategic value that exceeds the simple replacement of obsolete reserves: many of these weapons are modern, and its deployment in Ukraine offers the Kim Jong-a real laboratory regime to prove and perfect its military technology.
Hwasong-11 series missiles, self-propelled mortars and multiple pitchers not only reinforce the Russian offensive, but also allow North Korea to evaluate the combat performance of their own weapons systems. As the war extends, analysts of the Stimson Center and Network Nuclear Open an escalation in the arms supply, including anti -tank missiles, joint development drones and anti -aircraft systems that are already being studied for future deliveries.
Barter geopolitics. For experts such as Hugh Griffiths, former member of the UN sanctions monitoring panel, without the help of Kim Jong-un, Putin could not sustain his current offensive. In exchange for sending weapons and soldiers, Pyongyang would be receiving strategic components and technical knowledge that could transform their own offensive abilities, both into the Korean Peninsula and outside it.
Redrawing the balances. In short, this war cooperation between two of the most isolated regimes in the world represents a new chapter in the Ukraine War, one that thus acquires an increasingly internationalized dimension. While Ukraine disputes the narrative on Kursk’s control and maintains the hope of using that land as a currency in peace negotiations, North Korean involvement transforms that front into a symbol of the global rearrangement of alliances.
By participating directly in the European conflict, Pyongyang not only positions himself as a more ambitious military actor, but redouble his challenge to the international order led by the West. In the background and between the lines, what is consolidated is a Moscow -Pyongyang axis with long -term implications for regional security in Asia, European stability and the already tense pulse between the United States, China, Russia and their respective allies.
Imagen | The Presidential press and Information Office
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