North Korea’s Kim, Russia’s Shoigu affirm ‘consensus’ on Ukraine, other international issues

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with a top Russian official in Pyongyang on June 4, the first day of President Lee Jae-myung’s term, to highlight the two sides’ consensus on major international issues, according to state media.

The move emphasized deepening military and economic ties between North Korea and Russia as South Korea marked a political reset.

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North Korean Workers’ Party, reported on its front page on June 5 that Kim met with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu and his delegation at the party’s headquarters in Pyongyang the previous day.

Shoigu, visiting North Korea on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reportedly “courteously conveyed the friendly greetings” on behalf of Putin for the “matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit of the Korean people’s excellent sons who participated in the operations for liberating the Kursk area and defended the precious part of the Russian territory as their own motherland, fighting shoulder to shoulder with Russian soldiers in the same trench.”

In response, Kim pledged that North Korea would “unconditionally support” Russia’s stance and foreign policies on “crucial international political issues, including the Ukrainian issue,” and said North Korea would “responsibly observe the articles of the treaty between [North Korea] and Russia.”

His remarks were interpreted as a signal that Pyongyang intends to continue strengthening cooperation with Moscow under their new comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, even after the war in Ukraine ends.

Kim and Shoigu also confirmed that the leaders of both countries hold fully aligned positions on the Ukraine crisis and other global and regional issues. The report suggested that should future negotiations on denuclearization resume, Russia may seek to play a more assertive role.

The meeting’s timing — on the day South Korea’s new administration took office — implies the security situation on the Korean Peninsula may have also been discussed. Observers noted that the visit may have been intended as a counter to the normalization of the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang confirmed via Telegram that “an exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula” did indeed take place.

The unusually close diplomatic display included a highly symbolic venue: Kim welcomed Shoigu and Russian delegates into his personal office within the Workers’ Party headquarters — a space rarely opened to foreign guests. Photos released by the Rodong Sinmun showed the two sides meeting at a round table in front of Kim’s desk, beneath portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il.

The two officials also discussed “a series of important matters for defending the common core interests,” hinting that military cooperation was on the agenda. Given that a Ukrainian drone strike on Russian air bases occurred on June 1, shortly before Shoigu’s visit, analysts say the discussion may have included military support or even troop deployments.

“They may have discussed a joint response to Ukraine’s drone attacks, which Russia sees as an emerging threat,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University. “Shoigu’s return to Pyongyang just 70 days after his last visit suggests the urgency of coordinating on pressing security matters.”

North Korean media also swiftly reported on South Korea’s presidential election. The Rodong Sinmun briefly noted on page six that the recent 21st presidential election was held two months after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached following the Dec. 3 martial law imposition last year.

The article briefly mentioned that the Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung won the election.

Though such brief coverage is consistent with past North Korean reporting on South Korean elections, the speed of the response stood out. Experts said it could reflect Pyongyang’s interest in the DP’s return to power, given its historically conciliatory stance toward inter-Korean relations. Since Kim declared South Korea a “hostile state” in 2024, the North has largely ignored developments in the South.

It wasn’t the first time North Korea has shown support for Russia. The nation sent more than 20,000 containers of weapons, including artillery shells, missiles and anti-tank rockets, since September 2023, and dispatched some 8,000 North Korean workers to Russia last year. Last April, North Korea acknowledged that it had deployed troops to Kursk to fight Ukraine alongside Russia.

A recent report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team also pointed out the existence of a “black network” between the two nations, meaning that North Korea and Russia have been carrying out arms and financial transactions.

North Korea’s relationship with China, on the other hand, has been deteriorating in recent years as Pyongyang deepened military and strategic cooperation with Moscow. However, North Korea has lately shown efforts to mend the relations, such as resuming Chinese group tours and the construction of a bridge linking the two nations.

BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO, LEE YU-JUNG, SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]