Russia-North Korea Relations

Overview Over the past two years, the Russian Federation (Russia) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) have taken steps to formally strengthen their bilateral relationship. Russian President Vladimir Putin and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un held summits in eastern Russia in September 2023 and in Pyongyang in June 2024. In Pyongyang, Putin and Kim signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty that includes a “mutual military assistance” clause. North Korea has supported Russia’s military actions in Ukraine by providing thousands of shipping containers of munitions and deploying as many as 10,000 troops to Russia, possibly to counter Ukrainian military operations in Russia’s Kursk region. The Russian government has taken steps to erode the effectiveness of United Nations sanctions against North Korea. Experts assess that Russia could transfer advanced military technology to North Korea, if it has not done so already.

The upgraded Russia-DPRK relationship has implications for issues of concern to Congress, including battlefield conditions in the war in Ukraine, the maintenance of sanctions against Russia and North Korea, and North Korea’s military capabilities. It may also have broader implications, such as Russian missile technology transfers improving North Korea’s missile capacity to strike the U.S. homeland as well as U.S. allies in East Asia. Reports of North Korean troop deployments may also prompt South Korea’s government to offer more support to Ukraine.

To date, the Biden Administration has responded to the enhanced Russia-DPRK relationship by publicly revealing evidence of weapons transfers, coordinating among selected allies and partners, and issuing new unilateral designations against individuals and entities that violate U.S. and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions. The Administration also has worked with South Korea and Japan to increase deterrence and expand allied efforts to counter North Korea’s efforts to evade sanctions; on October 16, the United States and 10 countries announced their intention to form a new Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) to report on sanctions violations and evasions. Congress could review Administration policies, examine implementation of unilateral and multilateral sanctions, consider whether to explore ways to disrupt Russia-DPRK transactions that violate sanctions, and review the breadth and pace of North Korea-Russia cooperation as well as its impact on U.S. and allied forces.

Russia’s Changing Approach to North Korea From 2006 to 2017, Russia (along with China) supported the adoption of 10 UNSC sanctions resolutions targeting North Korea over its illicit nuclear weapons and missile programs. These measures restrict trade and engagement with North Korea. In particular, they prohibit weapons transfers to or from North Korea and assistance to North Korea’s ballistic missile programs, including space or

satellite launch activities, among other transactions. Russia and China also participated in past talks seeking to persuade North Korea to denuclearize. Since at least 2022, however, Russia has reversed course. During 2022 and 2023, Russia and China blocked U.S.-led efforts at the UNSC to adopt stricter sanctions on Pyongyang following DPRK ballistic missile tests. In March 2024, Russia voted against the renewal of a UN expert panel charged with monitoring sanctions implementation; the panel had documented North Korea’s sanctions evasion, including ship-to-ship transfers of oil and coal in the waters off China’s and Russia’s coasts, since 2010. The Russian government may have forced dissolution of the panel to limit international monitoring of its banned trade and other activities with North Korea.

An Expanding Partnership Russia-DPRK relations have improved since the late 2010s, and in particular since Russia launched its full invasion of Ukraine in 2022. North Korea supported Russia’s actions, including its annexation of Ukrainian territory, and reportedly began transferring munitions to Russia in 2022. Russia expanded its economic and diplomatic support for North Korea.

The Putin-Kim summits of 2023 and 2024 appear to have taken bilateral cooperation to new levels. Kim’s 2023 weeklong trip to Russia’s Far East was his first summit with any foreign leader since 2019. High-level Russian and DPRK officials subsequently met in each other’s capitals to develop the partnership in a broad range of areas including economics, science, technology, and culture.

Putin’s 2024 visit to Pyongyang appeared to restore elements of the Soviet Union-DPRK military alliance, which had lapsed following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Article 3 of the new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty calls for each side to “immediately provide military and other assistance by all of one’s means available” in the event either side “is put in a state of war by an armed invasion.” The treaty, which Putin said theoretically would provide legal validity for accepting DPRK troops, requires such actions to be in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which recognizes the right to self-defense. The treaty also states that the two countries will cooperate in scientific fields, including nuclear energy and space technology.

Benefits for North Korea According to the U.S. intelligence community’s 2024 annual threat assessment (ATA), since at least Kim’s 2023 visit to Russia, Moscow has provided North Korea “diplomatic, economic, and military concessions” in exchange for weaponry. According to press reports, Putin has said Russia is prepared to help North Korea build and perhaps launch satellites.

Russia-North Korea Relations

https://crsreports.congress.gov

Figure 1. Timeline of DPRK-Russia Military Relations, 2022 to Mid-2024

Source: Congressional Research Service.

The Biden Administration and nongovernmental experts have accused Russia of shipping oil to North Korea above UNSC-permitted levels. Russia reportedly has unfrozen $9 million in North Korean assets, is facilitating North Korea’s access to the global financial system, and hosts North Korean workers in violation of UNSC sanctions. U.S. National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby said in January 2024 that “Pyongyang is seeking military assistance from Russia, including fighter aircraft, surface- to-air missiles, ballistic missile production equipment or materials, and other advanced technologies.” Russia has increased food exports to North Korea and may be paying North Korea for the DPRK troop deployment.

In addition, North Korea may gain useful information from Russia about how its missile systems perform on the battlefield, potentially accelerating improvements in North Korea’s ballistic missile capabilities. Policymakers and analysts have raised concerns about whether Russia-DPRK scientific cooperation may lead to more transfers of military technologies and/or prohibited items that would improve North Korea’s military capabilities, especially those related to satellites, missiles, or nuclear weapons.

Upgrading relations with Russia could help North Korea reduce its dependence on China. Given North Korea’s greater economic and other ties to China, however, there likely are limits to how far Pyongyang would go to wean itself from reliance on China, which may be uneasy with the new partnership between Russia and North Korea.

Benefits for Russia Russia’s most immediate benefit from upgrading ties to North Korea is ready access to large stockpiles of ammunition. As of late 2024, Russia was firing as many as 10,000 artillery shells a day. To sustain this rate of fire while it increases its domestic production capacity, Russia has turned to North Korea for artillery ammunition and ballistic missiles. According to Ukrainian officials, North Korea has sent Russia 2.8 million artillery shells each year since 2022. Russia also has “used upwards of 40 DPRK- produced ballistic missiles” against Ukrainian targets since late December 2023, according to official U.S. statements. NSC spokesman Kirby has said that Russia has used DPRK weapons “to target Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and to kill innocent Ukrainian civilians.”

In October 2024, Ukrainian officials alleged North Korea was committing more than 10,000 troops to aid Russia’s war effort. The presence of North Korean troops in Russia

was soon confirmed by both South Korean and U.S. officials, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said DPRK troops would be deployed to Russia’s Kursk region. The presence of North Korean troops is possibly related to reported heavy Russian casualties over the last four months. South Korean officials said they would consider sending lethal weapons to Ukraine in response, a move Putin has said might prompt Russia to send arms to North Korea.

Russia may be strengthening ties with North Korea (as well as China and Iran) in part to compensate for its loss of access to Western markets and technology. The partnership also may be a Russian attempt to reassert its role in the Asia-Pacific and regain leverage in its relationship with China by inserting itself as an actor in any negotiations or discussions regarding North Korea.

Issues for Congress Congress has been at the forefront of efforts to impose and expand U.S. sanctions in response to North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, human rights abuses, and other illicit activities. Congress has supported sanctions against Russia for Russia’s malign activities, including, among others, malicious influence operations, election interference, human rights abuses, and the invasion of Ukraine. Congress could review the Administration’s use of sanctions against North Korea and Russia, as well as efforts to persuade other countries to enforce multilateral sanctions. Congress could assess reporting requirements in place to monitor these activities—particularly in light of the termination of the UN panel of experts on North Korea and the start of the new U.S.-led MSMT—and exercise oversight of policies and implementation.

Congress could consider examining the U.S. response to DPRK weapons and personnel transfers to Russia; whether (and, if so, how) such transfers may affect U.S. allies in the region and elsewhere; and whether (and, if so, how) the growing relationship between North Korea and Russia may affect Ukraine’s security and the effectiveness of U.S. security assistance to allies. More broadly, Congress could explore the impact, if any, of Russia’s decision to stop implementing UNSC resolutions that sanction North Korea on North Korean trade and on the international system.

Andrew S. Bowen, Analyst in Russian and European Affairs Mark E. Manyin, Specialist in Asian Affairs Mary Beth D. Nikitin, Acting Section Research Manager

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Russia-North Korea Relations

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