SEOUL, September 25 (AJP) - Russia has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to visit the country, with the timing to be arranged through diplomatic channels, as Moscow and Pyongyang deepen a relationship that has evolved from political alignment into a military alliance.
“Kim Jong-un has been invited to visit our country. Russia will always be glad to welcome the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told state news agency on Thursday. “The dates of the visit will be agreed upon through diplomatic channels.”
Rudenko said the 2024 Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership had elevated traditionally friendly ties between the two countries to what he called “a qualitatively new level of alliance,” adding that work was underway to expand cooperation in trade, economic and scientific-technical fields.
The remarks renewed speculation that Kim could make another trip to Russia this year, potentially including his first visit to Moscow.
Kim has traveled to Russia twice as North Korean leader, meeting Putin in Vladivostok in 2019 and again at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East in 2023. He has never visited Moscow.
Relations between North Korea and Russia have accelerated sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and particularly since Putin’s Pyongyang visit in June 2024.
In Pyongyang, Kim and Putin signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, which includes a mutual-defense provision requiring either side to provide military assistance if the other comes under armed attack. The treaty marked the strongest formal security commitment between Moscow and Pyongyang since the Cold War era.
Military cooperation subsequently moved beyond arms and political support.
North Korea deployed troops to fight alongside Russian forces in the war against Ukraine, while Pyongyang has openly backed Moscow’s war effort. Kim earlier this month pledged to further expand ties with Russia and expressed support for what he called Moscow’s “sacred war.”
The deployment has also given North Korean forces battlefield experience and contributed to what analysts see as an acceleration of the North’s military modernization with Russian assistance.
The relationship has been mutually beneficial. Russia has gained ammunition, military personnel and diplomatic backing as it prosecutes the war in Ukraine, while North Korea has secured a powerful political partner and expanded access to economic, technical and potentially military cooperation at a time when it remains under extensive international sanctions.
Moscow has also increasingly shielded Pyongyang diplomatically. Russia in 2024 vetoed the renewal of a U.N. panel that had monitored enforcement of sanctions on North Korea, effectively ending a key international mechanism tracking sanctions violations.
AJP Takeaways
- Moscow says Kim Jong Un has an open invitation to visit Russia, with the timing to be arranged through diplomatic channels, reviving speculation over another Kim-Putin summit.
- North Korea-Russia ties have moved into an alliance phase, anchored by their 2024 strategic partnership treaty and expanded military cooperation since Pyongyang sent troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
- A new Kim visit would underscore how far bilateral ties have deepened beyond diplomacy, spanning defense, trade, technology and political coordination, while raising the possibility of Kim’s first trip to Moscow.
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