 "Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un of North Korea meets President Vladimir Putin of Russia at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at Beijing, China. (Photo: Kremlin)")
Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un has promised Vladimir Putin that North Korea will “do everything in our power” to help Russia in the war on Ukraine.
Kim and Putin first held delegation-level talks and then held one-on-one talks in Beijing on Wednesday where they attended the Victory Day parade. In a sign of their camaraderie, they travelled in the same car from the reception held by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for their talks.
In their public remarks before closed-door meetings, Kim said that North Korea considered helping Russia its “fraternal duty”.
“If there is anything we can do to help Russia, we will certainly do that, and we will regard this as our fraternal duty. We will do everything in our power to assist Russia,” Kim told Putin.
In the Russian war on Ukraine, North Korea has supported Russia to the hilt and has provided everything from soldiers to weapons and ammunition.
Since last year, North Korea has deployed up to 15,000 soldiers to fight the Ukrainians beside Russians. North Korean soldiers have served on the frontlines where they have played key role in major theatres like Kursk where they joined Russian forces in retaking the region from Ukrainian forces. Some estimates say that North Korea has been consistently supplying around half of Russia’s artillery requirement for the war.
Putin hails North Korean soldiers’ valour
In his remarks, Putin hailed the valour of North Korean soldiers.
Putin told Kim that “your soldiers fought valiantly and heroically” and Russia “will never forget the sacrifices made by your armed forces and the families of your military personnel”, according to the English translation of remarks released by the Kremlin.
Putin further thanked Kim “on behalf of the Russian people for participating in our common fight against modern neo-Nazism”.
Out of North Korean soldiers sent to frontlines, around 2,000 have been killed in the war, according to South Korean intelligence reported by The Telegraph.
The report further said that North Korea has plans to deploy as many as 30,000 soldiers to Russia’s aid.
North Korea has provided Russia with over 10 million artillery shells, more than 100 self-propelled howitzers, over 100 rocket-launch systems, cluster munitions, mortars, and several hundreds of ballistic missiles of various types, according to estimates.