On April 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially confirmed Pyongyang’s deployment of troops to Russia and announced a statement conveying his gratitude to Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea. On the same day, Kim reiterated the North Korea-Russia alliance by publicly acknowledging the dispatch of troops to Russia. 
 In the April 28 statement, President Putin declared Russia’s victory in the Kursk region by mentioning, “Units of the Korean People’s Army played an active role in the fight that brought the defeat of Ukraine that invaded our territory.” In response, North Korea’s Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party issued a written statement whereby it emphasized that “military actions on Russian territory were fully consistent with the UN Charter, international law, and the spirit of the bilateral treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” and further boasted that it made a “significant dedication to the liberalization of the Federation of Russia’s territory.”
Even if troops from North Korea were observed participating in multiple battlefields of the Ukraine-Russia War, neither the North Korean Leadership nor the Kremlin officially acknowledged this fact. Nevertheless, the initiation of the second Trump administration prompted dialogues aimed at the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, while Russia achieved a prominent position in the Kursk; both parties disclosed the deployment of North Korean military personnel into Russia.
Last June, during the 2024 North Korea-Russia Summit in Pyongyang, Kim and Putin signed the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation (hereinafter “DPRK-Russia Strategic Partnership Treaty”), thereby reviving their alliance and underscoring that the military deployment was carried out under the terms of the treaty. Article 4 of the treaty delineates that in case any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed invasion from an individual state or several states, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay, in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and the laws of the DPRK and the Russian Federation. The revival of the automatic intervention clause from the 1961 DPRK-Soviet Union treaty suggests that the 2024 agreement has successfully reinstated their collaborative relationship.  

1.North Korea’s Official Acknowledgement of Troop Deployment to Russia

2.Diplomatic Undertones of North Korea’s Confirming Troop Deployment

3.Considerations for South Korea