Moscow and Pyongyang display their unity until “victory” in Ukraine

North Korea will be on the sideé from Russia to à his "victory" in Ukraine, warned à North Korean Foreign Minister in Moscow, at a time when the West denounces the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers eacute;ens near the front.

“There is no doubt that (…) the Russian army and people will win a great victory” in Ukraine, declared Choe Son Hui, during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The latter praised the “very close contacts (…) established between the military and security services” of the two countries and expressed Moscow's “gratitude” for North Korea's “principled position.”

“We reaffirm that we will always remain firmly at the side of our Russian comrades until the day of victory,” added the North Korean minister, according to a Russian translation of her remarks.

The North Korean flag at the North Korean embassy in Moscow on October 31, 2024 © AFP – Alexander NEMENOV

Russia and North Korea, which view the United States as an existential enemy, have grown significantly closer since Vladimir Putin launched an assault on Ukraine in February 2022, with the two countries notably concluding a mutual defense agreement during the Russian president's visit to Pyongyang in June.

North Korea has been suspected for many months of supplying large quantities of shells to Russia as well as hundreds of missiles. It is now also said to be providing thousands of soldiers to fight in the conflict with Ukraine.

– Front line –

Moscow and Pyongyang have neither confirmed nor denied the arrival of these troops, but according to Western sources, they are about to be deployed on the battlefield, in the Russian region of Kursk where the Ukrainian army has controlled several hundred km2 since August.

Satellite image of Airbus Defence and Space released on October 18, 2024 by South Korean intelligence, showing according to it the Russian military base of Khabarovsk where North Korean soldiers are stationed © SOUTH KOREA'S NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE – Handout

North Korea is also suspected of asking in exchange for technologies that will help it strengthen its nuclear arsenal, in particular its ballistic missiles.

Quoting the American intelligence services, the head of diplomacy Antony Blinken indicated Thursday that of the 10,000 North Korean soldiers that, according to Washington, have entered Russia, up to 8,000 “have been deployed in the Kursk region”.

“We have not yet seen these troops deployed in combat against Ukrainian forces, but we expect that to happen in the coming days,” he added.

Russia, he said, has equipped North Korean soldiers with Russian uniforms and trained them in artillery, drones, basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, “which indicates that it intends to use these forces in frontline operations.”

Ukraine: Positions of military forces © AFP – Valentin RAKOVSKY, Sophie RAMIS, Cléa PECULIER

Such a deployment will be a new blow for Ukraine, which has seen the West procrastinate for months on the aid it is requesting.

On the ground, Ukraine, already short of men and ammunition, is retreating on multiple sections of the front.

In October, the Russian army advanced by almost 500 km2 in Ukraine, the largest territorial gain in a month since March 2022 and the first weeks of the conflict.

– Western “zero” reaction –

And both Americans and Europeans are preventing Ukraine from using the missiles they have delivered on targets in Russian territory, for fear of provoking an escalation by the Kremlin.

Photo taken on Oct. 31, 2024, and released by North Korea's official KCNA news agency via KNS on Nov. 1, 2024, shows a test-firing of the new Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at an undisclosed location in North Korea © KCNA VIA KNS – STR

But for kyiv, it is the lack of Western firmness that is encouraging Vladimir Putin to escalate. On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attacked the “zero” reaction of the West to the deployment of North Korean soldiers and the internationalization of the war.

In this context, South Korea, a major arms exporter, announced that it was studying the possibility of sending weapons directly to Ukraine in response.

The meeting between Sergei Lavrov and Choe Son Hui also comes a few days before the American presidential election, and at a time when North Korea is raising tensions with the launch of an intercontinental missile.

Ms. Choe also said in Moscow that her country “will not change the course of strengthening its nuclear arsenal under any circumstances.”

In a Moscow train station, the two ministers unveiled a plaque in honor of the visit to Moscow of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather, for a meeting with Joseph Stalin in 1949, a few months before the invasion of the south of the peninsula by the forces of the communist north, the start of the Korean War.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un “are trying to be worthy of the contribution to our friendship that was made by our predecessors,” Mr. Lavrov commented.

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