Short answers, pulled from the story.
North Korea and Russia signed the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during Putin's June 2024 visit to Pyongyang; the agreement was formally ratified in November 2024. The treaty includes a mutual defence clause and covers cooperation in security, trade, and cultural ties.
North Korea confirmed on the 28th of April 2025 that 14,000 troops had been deployed to the Russian front in Ukraine. The United Kingdom estimated that DPRK forces suffered more than 6,000 killed and wounded as of June 2025.
Russia agreed to write off 90% of North Korea's debt, estimated at roughly $11 billion, in a deal signed on the 18th of September 2012. Putin ratified the agreement on the 5th of May 2014. The remaining $1 billion was to fund Russian investment in humanitarian and energy projects in North Korea.
The Soviet Union installed Kim Il Sung as first secretary of the North Korean Branch Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea in December 1945. He remained de facto subordinate to Soviet General Terentii Shtykov until the Chinese intervention in the Korean War.
Workers described to the BBC working more than 18 hours per day with minimal rest, inadequate safety equipment, and overcrowded housing in shipping containers or unfinished buildings. Wages were largely withheld until workers returned to North Korea, with most earnings transferred to the state as loyalty fees.
Russia reversed its earlier opposition to North Korea's nuclear program after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In September 2024, Foreign Minister Lavrov described denuclearization as a "closed issue," and in February 2026, he argued that North Korea's nuclear weapons had become the main guarantee of the country's prosperity.