Global & US Headlines
Kim Jong Un Pledges Unconditional Backing for Russia Days Before Putin–Trump Alaska Summit
On 12 Aug 2025, Kim Jong Un told Vladimir Putin North Korea will "fully support all measures" Russia takes under their 2024 mutual-defence pact, just three days before Putin’s face-to-face talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska.
Focusing Facts
- South Korean intelligence says roughly 15,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia since autumn 2024, aiding in the defence of the Kursk region.
- The 2024 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty commits both Moscow and Pyongyang to provide military support if either is attacked by a third party.
- Putin and Trump are slated to meet on 15 Aug 2025 in Anchorage, marking the first U.S.–Russia presidential summit since Geneva 2021.
Context
Great-power summits routinely trigger last-minute signalling by their allies—think of Mao’s 1950 support pledge to Stalin on the eve of the Korean War armistice talks, or NATO’s 1979 dual-track decision announced as SALT II stumbled. Kim’s timing mirrors that pattern: by restating a mutual-defence clause and parading troop contributions, Pyongyang locks Moscow closer while reminding Washington it can raise costs in Ukraine and beyond. For Russia, the partnership extends a century-old pattern—isolated powers under sanctions (Weimar Germany in the 1922 Rapallo Treaty, Iran in the 2000s) reaching for equally ostracised states to blunt Western pressure. Whether these phone-call pledges matter in 2125 depends on two trajectories: the durability of a Russia-North Korea military axis once Ukraine fighting subsides, and the degree to which the United States can—or cannot—fragment emerging anti-U.S. coalitions in a multipolar order. If the alliance endures, it could resurrect a Cold-War-style northern Asian flashpoint; if it fades, history may file this under the transient marriages of convenience that flourish when empires negotiate cease-fires.
Perspectives
Pro-Kremlin or Russia-friendly international outlets
e.g., Yeni Şafak, South China Morning Post, The Moscow Times — Frame the Kim–Putin call as a reaffirmation of steadfast solidarity, lauding North Korean troops’ “heroic” role in helping Russia “liberate” Kursk and underscoring the mutual-defence treaty as a positive milestone. By uncritically repeating Kremlin and KCNA language and omitting Ukraine’s perspective, they serve to legitimise Russia’s invasion and portray foreign troop deployments as both normal and praiseworthy.
Mainstream Western media
e.g., NBC News, The Guardian, POLITICO, Bloomberg — Report the call as a worrying deepening of an authoritarian partnership, spotlighting the scale of North Korean troop and weapons support and what it means for the upcoming Trump-Putin summit. Their coverage foregrounds security fears and Russia’s isolation, which may amplify Western anxieties and frame the alliance chiefly as a destabilising threat rather than normal diplomatic engagement.
Ukrainian-aligned media
e.g., KyivPost — Portrays the conversation as further evidence of an aggressive Russia–North Korea axis that endangers Ukraine, stressing Pyongyang’s direct military role and Moscow’s reliance on foreign forces. Operating from a wartime vantage point, the outlet depicts every Russo-North Korean interaction as hostile and offers little nuance about diplomatic motives beyond Moscow’s aggression.