Lavrov says Russia and North Korea are building ‘new and righteous world order’
Sergei Lavrov said Moscow and Pyongyang were expanding cooperation after North Korean troops assisted Russia in the Kursk region.
Moscow, Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia and North Korea were working to establish a “new and righteous world order”, following North Korea’s military support for Moscow in the Kursk region.
In a message to North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s commitment to expand cooperation in all areas and contribute to regional and international security, North Korea’s KCNA news agency reported on Tuesday.
North Korean support in Kursk
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent an estimated 14,000 soldiers to Russia in late 2024 to help Russian forces respond to a Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the region in May 2025 and publicly thanked Pyongyang for its assistance.
KCNA quoted Lavrov as saying that Russia and North Korea were continuing to establish a “new and righteous world order on the basis of genuine equality and national interests”.
“The participation of service personnel of the Korean People’s Army in the operations to drive the Ukrainian Nazi clique and foreign mercenaries out of Kursk is a clear proof of the tradition of the militant friendship forged by the heroic preceding generations,” Lavrov said.
Wider military cooperation concerns
Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has often described President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government as “Nazis” persecuting Russian-speakers in Ukraine. Zelenskiy, who is Jewish, and his Western allies reject the characterisation.
South Korea and Western countries have voiced concern that Pyongyang may receive assistance from Moscow for weapons development in exchange for its support in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Zelenskiy said that up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to Russia in a new deployment to increase military pressure on Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian and independent assessments, Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with millions of artillery and mortar rounds, ballistic missiles, long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems.
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