Russia's Putin meets North Korea's top diplomat in Kremlin
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- Putin met North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at the Kremlin on Sunday, July 20, thanking her for help in what Moscow calls the "special military operation."
- North Korean troops helped Russia repel a major Ukrainian incursion into the western Kursk region in 2024, operating under a mutual defense pact between the two countries.
- North Korea deployed approximately 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russian forces in Kursk.
- Ukrainian forces smashed across the border into Kursk in August 2024 and held substantial pockets of territory for months before being driven back.
- Choe Son Hui told Putin that Kim Jong Un recently reaffirmed North Korea's commitment to the comprehensive development of relations with the Russian Federation.
Why it matters: Putin personally thanked North Korea's top diplomat at the Kremlin for the 14,000 troops Pyongyang deployed under their mutual defense pact to help repel Ukraine's Kursk incursion. Choe's in-person delivery of Kim Jong Un's reaffirmed pledge to deepen bilateral relations underscores how openly the two countries now frame a military cooperation that is now documented in battlefield scale.
