Features | Security | East Asia

North Korea’s State of Play in the Russia-Ukraine War

Where does North Korea’s involvement in the war stand today – and where might it be headed?

Russian President Vladimir Putin (second from right), accompanied by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is greeted by North Korean officials during a state visit to Pyongyang, June 19, 2024.

North Korean support for Russia’s war against Ukraine has not materialized in the way Kyiv had originally predicted this past summer.

In August, Ukrainian intelligence assessed that the Kremlin had requested upwards of 30,000 more troops to support an autumn offensive. Kyiv also announced that Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un would meet sometime in September. It is now November, but no Russia-North Korea summit has taken place, and while there have been reports of additional North Korean troop deployments to Russia, there is no indication that tens of thousands more combat troops have moved from the Korean Peninsula to the front lines in Eastern Europe.

Get to the bottom of the story

Subscribe today and join thousands of diplomats, analysts, policy professionals and business readers who rely on The Diplomat for expert Asia-Pacific coverage.

Get unlimited access to in-depth analysis you won't find anywhere else, from South China Sea tensions to ASEAN diplomacy to India-Pakistan relations. More than 5,000 articles a year.

Unlimited articles and expert analysis

Weekly newsletter with exclusive insights

16-year archive of diplomatic coverage

Ad-free reading on all devices

Support independent journalism

Already have an account? Log in.

North Korean support for Russia’s war against Ukraine has not materialized in the way Kyiv had originally predicted this past summer.

In August, Ukrainian intelligence assessed that the Kremlin had requested upwards of 30,000 more troops to support an autumn offensive. Kyiv also announced that Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un would meet sometime in September. It is now November, but no Russia-North Korea summit has taken place, and while there have been reports of additional North Korean troop deployments to Russia, there is no indication that tens of thousands more combat troops have moved from the Korean Peninsula to the front lines in Eastern Europe.

So, what happened, and where does North Korea’s involvement in the war stand today? Answering these questions requires revisiting the successive phases of North Korean support to understand how its role has evolved and where it might be headed.

Recapping North Korea’s Wartime Support

The Russia-North Korea relationship has a checkered past. Although the two countries’ trajectories have been intertwined since the end of World War II, their relationship has not always been cooperative. Thus, when the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the level of North Korean support that has emerged over the past four-and-a-half years was not a given.

In fact, North Korea’s response to Russia’s annexation........

© The Diplomat