“Sharing Blood”: How the Ukraine war has cemented the Russia–North Korea alliance |
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year message to Russian President Vladimir Putin marked a striking moment in contemporary geopolitics. By declaring that ties between Pyongyang and Moscow have been “solidified by sharing blood” on the battlefield in Ukraine, Kim offered not merely seasonal greetings but a blunt confirmation of a military partnership that many observers long suspected and others openly denied. His words underscore how the Ukraine conflict has become a catalyst for reshaping alliances far beyond Europe, drawing in actors once considered peripheral to the war.
According to the statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 27, Kim described 2025 as a year that would be “etched forever in the history of relations” between Russia and North Korea. The language was unusually emotive and explicit, especially in its reference to joint combat experience. In diplomatic terms, claiming that relations have been strengthened through “the trials of life and death together on a single front” signals a relationship that Pyongyang now views not as transactional, but as existential.
Relations between Russia and North Korea have fluctuated since the Cold War, but the turning point in their modern partnership came with the signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty in June 2024. That agreement laid the legal and political groundwork for deeper military cooperation, and Kim’s statement strongly suggests that it has already moved beyond theory into practice.
Earlier this year, North Korean troops reportedly assisted Russian forces in repelling a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region. While neither Moscow nor Pyongyang disclosed the number of North Korean personnel involved, Russian authorities openly praised their role. The........