North Korea and Russia

For thirty years after the Soviet collapse Russia had little use for North Korea and voted for the sanctions against it. The war in Ukraine changed that. North Korea had millions of artillery shells of Soviet calibre and the factories to make more, and then offered soldiers. In June 2024 the two signed a treaty promising military help if either is attacked, and by the end of that year North Korean troops were fighting Ukrainian forces inside Russia. It is the first time the North has sent an army abroad. What Russia gives in return is the question that worries its neighbours.

The wider conflict and each side's full account: The Korean peninsula.

Where it stands · September 2026

Russia and North Korea opened their first road bridge across their border on 7 September. On 8 September China and Russia sent anniversary messages to Kim Jong Un stressing strategic ties with North Korea. Russia is reported to be using North Korean workers on fake visas to manufacture drones. On 24 September Russia commented on the international sanctions regime against North Korea. On 28 September Ukrainian media criticized Kyiv's disclosure of the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war.

What the dispute is about

The exchange. Shells, missiles and men one way. The other way: oil above the United Nations limit, food, cash, air defence, and according to South Korean and Western intelligence, help with satellites, submarines and missile guidance. Moscow denies breaking any rule it recognises.

Sanctions. Russia voted for the measures that ban all arms trade with the North. It now says they are obsolete, and in 2024 used its veto to end the panel that monitored them.

The precedent. An Asian army is fighting in a European war, and a European war is improving the weapons pointed at Seoul and Tokyo. Each ally of the United States reads that as its own problem.

How each side explains it

The account of Moscow and Pyongyang

Two sovereign states under illegal Western pressure have concluded a treaty, as is their right, and act on it. Korean soldiers helped free Russian soil in the Kursk region from an army that had invaded it, which is exactly what a mutual defence clause is for. The West arms Ukraine with everything it has and sends its own instructors and mercenaries; it is in no position to object when Russia's ally helps Russia. The sanctions on the North were a mistake Russia will not repeat, and cooperation will grow.

In our coverage

North Korea's deterrent and its Russia/China partnerships are legitimate →116 headlines
Covered by:TASS (EN) · TASS · BelTA Russian · Gazeta.ru · Lenta.ru · RIA Novosti

The account of Seoul, Kyiv and the Western allies

Russia buys ammunition and lives from a state it agreed was an outlaw, and pays with the technologies the sanctions exist to deny it. North Korean missiles have killed Ukrainian civilians. North Korean soldiers, thousands of whom have been killed, are gaining the only modern combat experience their army has. A permanent member of the Security Council is dismantling resolutions it wrote, and the North's weapons will be more accurate and more numerous because of it.

What each account leaves out

Moscow's and Pyongyang's leaves out that Russia voted for every one of the resolutions it now breaks; that both governments denied the deployment for six months before honouring the dead in public; and that the soldiers had no choice in going, nor their families in what they were told.

Seoul's, Kyiv's and the allies' leaves out that Western states send Ukraine arms, intelligence and trainers and call that lawful; that South Korea has itself supplied shells that reached Ukraine through the United States; and that the specific transfers of missile and submarine technology they describe have been asserted more often than shown.

The ledger

Russia

Wanted: shells and men.
Gained: millions of rounds and an infantry it does not have to recruit at home.
Paid: its standing as a guardian of non-proliferation, and whatever it has handed over.

North Korea

Wanted: a second patron, money, technology and battle experience.
Gained: all four, and leverage over China.
Paid: several thousand soldiers killed, by outside estimates.

South Korea and Japan

Paid: a more capable adversary. Seoul has so far declined to answer by arming Ukraine directly.

Ukraine

Words in dispute

Names and terms the sides do not share. This page keeps them out of its own voice.

comprehensive strategic partnership / arms-for-technology deal
volunteers, allies / mercenaries, cannon fodder
liberation of Kursk
illegal sanctions / binding resolutions
sacred war
axis

Events per week

Per-week distribution of events. Click a bar to see that week's top events.

Click a week bar to select. Light blue = active week.

Week of Sep 28, 2026(13)

S. Korea says in communication with Ukraine over N.K. POW transfer disclosure - Yonhap News Agency

1 sourcesOct 1, 2026

Zelensky: Russia Already Began Additional Mobilization

2 sourcesSep 28, 2026

Ukraine Media Criticizes Kyiv's Disclosure of N. Korean POW Repatriation

1 sourcesSep 28, 2026

Ukraine believes Russia shared jet-drone technology with North Korea, says Zelenskiy

1 sourcesOct 4, 2026

South Korea proposes talks with North Korea on border demarcation line

1 sourcesOct 2, 2026

South Korea Threatens Ukraine: Apologize for Exposing North Korea POW Transfer or Else - breitbart.com

1 sourcesOct 2, 2026

Russia and North Korea to strengthen film exchange

1 sourcesOct 2, 2026

North Korea has recently completed two road bridges easing transport to strategic allies Russia and China

1 sourcesSep 30, 2026

DPRK, RUSSIA COOPERATED IN BALLISTIC MISSILE SHIPMENT - ROK LAWMAKER - news.cgtn.com

1 sourcesSep 30, 2026

Zelensky: North Korea preparing to send 10,000 more troops to Russia

1 sourcesSep 29, 2026

+3 more this week

North Korea and Russia

What the dispute is about

How each side explains it

The account of Moscow and Pyongyang

The account of Seoul, Kyiv and the Western allies

What each account leaves out

The ledger

Russia

North Korea

South Korea and Japan

Ukraine

Words in dispute

Events per week

Also involved

What changed the course