Open Alliance

North Korea is now embracing its role supporting Russia's war against Ukraine and a narrative of victorious allies, experts tell Newsweek

- by TOM O'CONNOR

NORTH KOREA'S ONCE-COVERT role in direct support of Russia's war against Ukraine is now being embraced by the nation's leadership, a shift that reflects emerging realities on the battlefield and in the world order to the benefit of Moscow and Pyongyang.

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's award ceremony and visit to a memorial to troops slain in action last month marked the latest step in a trend that began in April, when Pyongyang first acknowledged that it sent soldiers to aid Moscow in repelling a Ukrainian offensive in Russia's Kursk region. That reveal took place some six months after intelligence from the United States and South Korea first assessed that North Korean forces had arrived in the country.

Since then, the joint Russian-North Korean military operation has managed to retake much of the land considered a potentially key bargaining chip for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he hopes to reclaim at least some of the near-fifth of his country occupied by Russia in an eventual peace agreement.

For North Korea—officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK—which signed an unprecedented mutual defense treaty with Russia last year, the gains fuel a narrative reminiscent of the Moscow-Pyongyang partnership during the Korean War that began 75 years ago. “I think this reflects unfortunately the gains on the ground that Russian and DPRK troops have made in the Kursk territory,” Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek. “They have created a narrative of victorious allies and the first success of this newly rejuvenated military treaty relationship.”