Relations between Russia and North Korea are growing closer. Pyongyang has been publically supportive of Russia’s war in Ukraine and is reported to have supplied Moscow with millions of artillery shells. Kim Jong-un met with Vladimir Putin at Vostochny Cosmodrome and discussed deepening their military relationship and providing Russia with additional military supplies. These deepening ties also raise a series of questions related to geostrategic competition in Northeast Asia, the war in Ukraine, the future of UN sanctions, and the prospects for North Korean denuclearization.

On October 5, 2023, KEI hosted a discussion of these and other pressing questions about North Korea’s deepening ties with Russia.