{"id":65055,"date":"2026-06-25T22:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T22:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/65055\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T22:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T22:04:09","slug":"north-korea-russia-alliance-lectures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/65055\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea Russia alliance lectures"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"weapons<\/a>The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on June 20, 2024, that “A treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation has been signed” and “Comrade Kim Jong Un signed the treaty together with Comrade Putin.” \/ Photo: Rodong Sinmun, News1<\/p>\n

North Korea held week-long ideological lectures for officials in June 2026 to mark the second anniversary of its comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with Russia, framing the alliance as an unbreakable achievement of Kim Jong Un\u2019s leadership while working to contain growing unease over the deaths of North Korean soldiers deployed to fight in Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

A source in South Hwanghae province told Daily NK recently that Haeju city launched the lectures on June 19 following instructions issued by higher party organs on June 18. The lectures, directed at official study groups, carried the theme that the North Korea\u2013Russia alliance forged through Kim Jong Un\u2019s bold decision was eternal and invincible. The source said the campaign was ordered specifically to mark the treaty\u2019s second anniversary.<\/p>\n

The North Korea\u2013Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty was signed by Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin during Putin\u2019s visit to Pyongyang in June 2024. The treaty covers cooperation across political, economic, cultural, defense, and security domains, and is widely understood to provide a mutual security guarantee between the two countries.<\/p>\n

According to the source, the lectures presented the treaty as a legal foundation capable of securing the future of the bilateral relationship under any circumstances. Lecturers pointed to the resumption of Pyongyang\u2013Moscow passenger flights, the groundbreaking of a North Korea\u2013Russia friendship hospital, and the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia as the clearest proof that the treaty was being put into practice. Cooperation across political, economic, cultural, defense, and security areas had reached unprecedented levels over the past two years, they argued.<\/p>\n

Officials weep \u2014 but not out of loyalty<\/p>\n

The most striking element of the lectures, according to the source, was their treatment of North Korean soldiers killed while fighting on Russian soil. Their deaths were presented as acts of great sacrifice for the homeland, made on behalf of a common front against the United States. Lecturers stressed that Kim Jong Un had personally pledged to take responsibility for those soldiers and their families, describing the leader as holding the deployed troops close with the affection of a blood relative and taking direct charge of their lives, deaths, and their families\u2019 livelihoods.<\/p>\n

The framing appeared designed to forestall ideological wavering by elevating the fallen soldiers as heroes and tying their sacrifice to the narrative of the leader\u2019s benevolence. But the source said the effect on officials in Haeju was more complicated than the authorities likely intended.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile officials outwardly applauded the country\u2019s diplomatic achievements, many couldn\u2019t conceal their inner turmoil,\u201d the source said. Some officials were seen in tears during the lectures. \u201cThey weren\u2019t crying out of gratitude for the leader\u2019s love,\u201d the source said. \u201cThey were crying for the soldiers buried in a foreign land \u2014 and worrying that their own children could be sent to a foreign battlefield at any moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some officials also voiced quiet skepticism about the deployment\u2019s rationale, the source added. The sacrifice of the soldiers would be difficult to justify to ordinary people, some said, unless it translated into stable market prices or genuine relief from hunger.<\/p>\n

The source said the urgency of holding a week-long lecture campaign timed specifically to the treaty\u2019s anniversary reflected the authorities\u2019 awareness that fatigue and anxiety over the deployment issue were spreading internally. By casting the alliance in terms of \u201cvictory on the allied front\u201d and \u201cthe leader\u2019s benevolence,\u201d the party appeared to be trying to paper over that unease \u2014 though, based on what the source observed, with only partial success.<\/p>\n

Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n

Reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n

\n Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media, satellite imagery, or defector accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime. We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication.\n <\/p>\n

\n Our sources remain anonymous because contact with foreign media is treated as a capital offense in North Korea \u2014 discovery means imprisonment or execution. This network-based approach allows Daily NK to report on developments other outlets cannot access: market trends, policy implementation, public sentiment, and daily realities that never appear in official narratives.\n <\/p>\n

\n Maintaining these secure communication channels and protecting source identities requires specialized protocols and constant vigilance. Daily NK serves as a bridge between North Koreans and the outside world, documenting what\u2019s happening inside one of the world\u2019s most closed societies.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on June 20, 2024, that “A treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23147,141,31,36105,344,34,7299,137,17669,2991],"class_list":["post-65055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-deployment","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea","tag-lectures","tag-military","tag-north-korea","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-south-hwanghae-province","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}