Kim Jong-un will send troops to help Putin rebuild Kursk
North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to Russia to help with rebuilding efforts.
Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, had agreed to send 1,000 sappers to clear mines and 5,000 military construction workers 'to restore infrastructure destroyed by the occupiers' in the war-torn Kursk region, according to Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of the Russian Security Council.
Relations between the two countries have been rapidly expanding in recent months following the implementation of a defence treaty signed in November last year.
North Korea has already supplied an estimated 15,000 troops, as well as ballistic missiles and munitions, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. An estimated 4,000 soldiers have been killed or injured in the conflict, according to South Korea.
Both Kim and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, publicly acknowledged the deployment in April, confirming that North Korean troops had fought alongside Russian soldiers for nine months in Kursk.
According to RIA Novosti, a Russian state media outlet, Mr Shoigu, said on Wednesday: 'Following the expulsion of invaders from Russian soil, we've agreed to continue our constructive co-operation, with the Korean side providing assistance in the restoration of the Kursk region.
'This is a kind of brotherly aid being sent by the Korean people and their leader, Kim Jong-un, to our country.'
In return, Russia has provided North Korea with short-range air-defence systems and advanced electronic warfare systems and is reportedly also offering assistance with Pyongyang's drone programme.
For his part, Kim confirmed North Korea's expanding co-operation with Russia, but did not comment on the dispatch of construction workers or deminers, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim only expressed the 'steadfast' will of the North Korean people to 'invariably and unconditionally' support Russia.
KCNA also said that Kim and Putin have been exchanging ' personal letters for several weeks ' to discuss co-operation and the long-term plans of their partnership.
This is Mr Shoigu's third visit to North Korea in nearly three months and he told TASS, another Russian state media outlet, that the frequency of trips has been spurred on by the strategic partnership between the two countries.
To commemorate the growing ties between the two countries, Mr Shoigu said Moscow and Pyongyang have agreed to erect memorials in each country to honour the North Korean soldiers who died while fighting in Kursk.
He also said that he hopes for air travel to resume between Russia and North Korea after a 30-year hiatus.
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