Russian Defense Minister Visits North Korea for Talks About Ukraine

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, (R, on the red carpet), is welcomed by North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol (L on red carpet), upon his arrival at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea on Nov. 29, 2024. Russian Defense Press Service via AP

Russia’s defense minister Andrei Belousov has arrived in Pyongyang for talks with North Korean military and political leaders, the TASS news agency reported on Nov. 29.

TASS, on its Telegram channel, said Belousov had talks with North Korea’s defense minister No Kwang Chol.

It quoted Belousov as saying military cooperation between Russia and North Korea was actively growing.

TASS said the North Korean defense minister emphasised the “combat friendship” and cooperation between the two armies was a top priority.

According to the Pentagon, 10,000 have been deployed in the Kursk region to fight Ukrainian troops who mounted an incursion into Russian territory in August.

They include the Storm Corps, an elite special forces unit.

Earlier this month, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the North Koreans, “have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces.”

North Korea has also supplied large quantities of artillery shells to Russia, helping them to keep up regular bombardment of the Ukrainian lines, especially in the Donbas region, where the Russians are making a steady advance.

On Nov. 26 it was reported Russia had taken 91 square miles of territory in Ukraine over the past week, a weekly record for 2024.

Russia is also estimated to have sent a million barrels of oil to North Korea, in breach of U.N. sanctions, since March 2024, according to satellite imagery analysis by Open Source, a non-profit based in Britain.

In May, President Vladimir Putin appointed Belousov, a former economist, as defense minister to replace Sergei Shoigu, who had been in the post since 2012.

Explaining the change at the time the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the defense ministry needed to be “totally open” to new technologies and added, “On today’s battlefield, the winners are those who are more open to innovation.”

Russia is suspected of giving technical assistance to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

It is not clear if Belousov will meet Kim himself during his visit.

Ukrainians Visit Seoul

The visit came two days after a Ukrainian delegation visited South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul.

During the visit on Wednesday, Ukraine’s defense minister Rustem Umerov called for the two countries to formulate countermeasures in response to the North Korean deployment of troops.

South Korea may be able to offer translation and intelligence assistance to the Ukrainians.

In a statement from his office, President Yoon said he hoped Seoul and Kyiv could work out effective ways of combating the North Korean deployment.

The Ukrainian delegation later met Yoon’s national security adviser, Shin Wonsik, and defense minister Kim Yong Hyun.

Umerov briefed them on the status of the conflict, which began in Feb. 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine in what it described as a “special military operation.”

Yoon’s statement said the two sides, aided by the United States, agreed to share information on the North Korean troops in Russia, and North Korean-Russian weapons and technology transfers.

South Korea has joined U.S.-led sanctions against Moscow and shipped humanitarian and financial support to Kyiv.

But it has not supplied weapons to Ukraine as it has a long-standing policy of not supplying lethal weapons to countries engaged in conflicts.

President-Elect Trump has promised to end the war quickly upon being inaugurated in January.

He is expected to put pressure on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make concessions on territory, including the Crimea which was historically Russian but was given to the-then Soviet republic of Ukraine in 1955 by Nikita Khrushchev.

Associated Press contributed to this report.