{"id":11622,"date":"2026-07-20T15:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T10:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11622"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:00:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T10:00:34","slug":"putin-thanks-north-korea-for-support-in-war-against-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11622","title":{"rendered":"Putin thanks North Korea for support in war against Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/8461784535923\/2026\/upi_com\/844e24735715a5cd84901a6ea90d37cd\/v1.5\/Putin-thanks-North-Korea-for-support-in-war-against-Ukraine.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at the Kremlin, state media reported on Sunday. Kremlin Pool Photo by Alexander Shcherbak\/Sputnik\/EPA <\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">SEOUL, July 20 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for its military support in the war against Ukraine and vowed to strengthen bilateral ties during a meeting with visiting Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, Russian state media reported Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Putin made the remarks during a meeting with Choe at the Kremlin, according to Russia&#8217;s TASS news agency.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Once again, I would like to express gratitude for the support for our special military operation, for the decision to send soldiers of the Korean People&#8217;s Army to take part in the liberation of the Kursk Region,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/tass.com\/politics\/2162227\" target=\"_blank\">Putin said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>North Korea has deepened military ties with Russia since Moscow&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Pyongyang has shipped thousands of containers of munitions and deployed about 15,000 troops to assist Russian forces in the Kursk region, South Korea&#8217;s National Intelligence Service has said, estimating that roughly 2,000 of those troops have been killed.<\/p>\n<p>In April, North Korea held a ceremony <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/04\/27\/North-Korea-memorial-troops-killed-Ukraine-inauguration-Kim-Jong-Un\/8111777272079\/\" target=\"_blank\">unveiling a memorial<\/a> honoring troops dispatched to fight for Russia in Ukraine, with leader Kim Jong Un pledging continued support for Moscow in its &#8220;sacred war.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>Choe&#8217;s visit was not tied to a major anniversary or political event, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/07\/19\/china-russia-ties\/1301784506118\/\" target=\"_blank\">prompting speculation<\/a> among analysts that it could be laying the groundwork for a visit to Russia by Kim.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea&#8217;s Unification Ministry declined to speculate on whether Kim could visit Russia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nothing has been made public yet, so we will continue to monitor the situation closely,&#8221; ministry spokesman Yoon Min-ho said during a regular press briefing Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Putin said relations between Russia and North Korea were &#8220;developing in all areas&#8221; and asked Choe to convey his greetings to Kim.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Please convey my greetings and best wishes to Comrade Kim Jong Un,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/tass.com\/politics\/2162223\" target=\"_blank\">Putin said<\/a>. &#8220;I highly value the mutual understanding on all issues and friendly relations between us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Choe reaffirmed North Korea&#8217;s support for Russia&#8217;s war effort, TASS said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Democratic People&#8217;s Republic of Korea will continue to steadfastly support all Russia&#8217;s efforts, both now and in the future, aimed at defending the country&#8217;s sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity, and at addressing the root causes of the crisis in Ukraine,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/tass.com\/politics\/2162237\" target=\"_blank\">she said<\/a>, using North Korea&#8217;s official name.<\/p>\n<p>The visit comes as North Korea has also stepped up diplomacy with China, its longtime ally and principal economic partner.\n<\/p>\n<p>Beijing&#8217;s top political adviser, Wang Huning, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/07\/17\/Kim-Jong-Un-Wang-Huning-China-delegation-North-Korea-meeting\/8341784280889\/\" target=\"_blank\">traveled to North Korea<\/a> last week to hold talks with Kim and participate in events marking the 65th anniversary of the bilateral Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.<\/p>\n<p>It was the latest in a string of high-level exchanges between the two countries, including a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to North Korea last month.<\/p>\n<p>Kim last visited Russia in September 2023, when he met Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country&#8217;s Far East and toured military and industrial facilities.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at the Kremlin, state media reported on Sunday. Kremlin Pool Photo by Alexander Shcherbak\/Sputnik\/EPA SEOUL, July 20 (UPI) &#8212; Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for its military support in the war against Ukraine and vowed to strengthen bilateral&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/8461784535923\/2026\/1\/844e24735715a5cd84901a6ea90d37cd\/v1.5\/Putin-thanks-North-Korea-for-support-in-war-against-Ukraine.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}