North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscored his country’s support for Russia in its war against Ukraine during a meeting with Moscow’s foreign minister on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was warmly greeted when he visited North Korea this weekend, and the two officials discussed the deepening relations between the two countries.
“Kim Jong Un reaffirmed that the DPRK is ready to unconditionally support all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the eradicating of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis,” according to a readout from North Korea’s state-run news agency, KCNA, which used the official acronym, “DPRK,” to refer to North Korea.
The readout said that the leaders made clear at the meeting that they planned to “closely support and cooperate with each other in the journey for thoroughly safeguarding the core interests of the two countries.”
According to KCNA, Lavrov expressed his desire “to further intensify the strategic and tactical cooperation and concerted action between the Russian Federation and the DPRK in the international arena.”
The meeting comes amid a deepening military alliance between the two countries following a mutual defense treaty signed in June 2024.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for deploying troops to help Russia fight Ukraine in April — the first time the Kremlin acknowledged the North Korean troop deployment.
The U.S. and its allies reported last fall that North Korea was deploying thousands of troops to aid Russia against Ukraine.
