North Korea Joins Russia's War Effort
Russia entered the full-scale invasion with one of the world's largest defence industries. By late 2024, it was also firing North Korean ammunition and missiles—and sending North Korean soldiers into combat against Ukraine.
The progression mattered because it turned an arms relationship into direct military participation. A European war had drawn in troops from East Asia under a new partnership between two heavily sanctioned states.
Shells Before Soldiers
North Korea possesses enormous stocks and production capacity for Soviet-calibre artillery ammunition compatible with Russian weapons. Shipments moved by sea and rail as Russia tried to sustain a rate of fire that its own factories and stored rounds could not fully support.
Public estimates of the number of shells varied widely, and neither government provided transparent totals. Satellite imagery, transport records, recovered weapons, and intelligence statements nevertheless established a large and continuing flow.
Russia also began using North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine. Conflict Armament Research examined remnants, and a UN sanctions panel confirmed that a missile which struck Kharkiv on January 2, 2024, belonged to North Korea's Hwasong-11 family.
Those transfers violated UN Security Council restrictions on North Korean arms exports. Russia then vetoed renewal of the expert panel that monitored the sanctions in March 2024, ending its mandate while the underlying resolutions remained in force.
A Strategic Partnership
Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in June 2024 and signed a comprehensive strategic partnership with Kim Jong Un. Its mutual-assistance clause promised support if either country entered a state of war after armed aggression.
For Russia, North Korea offered munitions, missiles, and manpower without the political limits attached to Western assistance for Ukraine. For North Korea, the relationship offered money, food, fuel, diplomatic protection, and possible access to Russian military or space technology.
The precise exchange has never been fully public. South Korean and Western officials reported Russian support including oil and air-defence equipment, while warning that advanced missile, submarine, satellite, or nuclear-related knowledge could be part of future cooperation.
Troops Arrive in Russia
In autumn 2024, South Korea, the United States, and NATO said North Korean troops had travelled to Russia's Far East for training and equipment. Estimates converged around 10,000 to 12,000 personnel in the initial deployment.
Units then moved to Kursk region, where Russia was trying to remove Ukrainian forces from the territory they had seized in August. By December, Ukrainian and South Korean officials reported North Korean troops taking part in assaults and suffering casualties.
The United Nations initially said it could not independently verify every deployment claim. Evidence accumulated through captured soldiers, battlefield footage, intelligence disclosures, and casualty reporting; in 2025, Moscow and Pyongyang publicly confirmed that North Korean personnel had fought in Kursk.
What the Deployment Changed
North Korean soldiers did not replace the Russian army or instantly decide the Kursk campaign. They gave Moscow another pool of infantry, allowing it to apply pressure without relying entirely on politically sensitive Russian conscripts.
Their early tactics reportedly involved large dismounted groups operating in a drone-saturated environment unfamiliar to them. They adapted as fighting continued, gaining combat experience that North Korea could take home.
The cooperation also linked two security theatres. Weapons tested against Ukrainian cities could improve North Korean designs, while Russian help could alter the military balance on the Korean Peninsula.
At a December 2024 Security Council meeting, investigators described recently manufactured North Korean missiles recovered in Ukraine. Their short journey from factory to battlefield captured the new relationship: Russia's war effort had become international not only through imported components and weapons, but through another state's soldiers.
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