North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) visits a major munitions factory to review production of weapons and combat equipment at an undisclosed location in North Korea on December 28. Photo by KNCA/EPA
The author requests that north Korea be styled with a lowercase “n” in this story.
The two letters exchanged between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin at the start of 2026 are not New Year’s greetings.
They are not diplomatic pleasantries.
They are, in effect, a formal declaration of a war alliance and a decisive document revealing where the current world order is heading.
On Dec. 27, Kim Jong Un sent a New Year’s message to Putin. Yet the language of the letter goes far beyond congratulatory remarks. Instead, it is filled with blunt and unmistakable expressions:
“The most genuine alliance, forged by sharing blood in the same trench, through life and death.”
“An unchanging and eternal choice.”
“Unconditional support.”
Such language is rarely, if ever, used in correspondence between heads of state. This is not the vocabulary of peacetime diplomacy. It is the language of a wartime alliance, one that presumes a shared war and a shared fate.
Putin’s reply is even more explicit.
“I will unconditionally respect and unconditionally support all of your policies and decisions.”
This is not a promise to evaluate north Korea’s actions after the fact.
It reads as prior authorization and political indemnity, a declaration that Russia will stand by north Korea regardless of the choices it makes.
Reading this exchange inevitably recalls Stalin’s approval of the North Korean invasion in June 1950.
These two letters are not personal correspondence. They are closer to a wartime agreement between allies.
North Korea-Russia relations have entered a wartime phase
This declaration did not emerge overnight.
Over the past two years, north Korea and Russia have systematically constructed the architecture of a war alliance.
• The elevation of ties through repeated summits
• The deployment of north Korean troops to the Russia-Ukraine war
• The creation of Unit 528, tasked with mine-clearing and engineering operations
•-The institutionalization of ceremonies honoring fallen soldiers
Initially, Pyongyang denied sending troops to Ukraine. Since last year, however, it has actively publicized their involvement.
Commemorations for fallen soldiers serve not only to strengthen internal cohesion but also to signal that North Korea now regards this war as its own.
In an assessment released late last year, the UK Ministry of Defense noted that north Korean forces are playing leadership roles on certain fronts of the Russia-Ukraine war.
This indicates that north Korean troops are no longer auxiliary forces or expendable manpower but have been fully integrated into Russia’s war-fighting structure.
Beyond the military: Alliance engineered across generations, culture
north Korea’s alignment with Russia extends far beyond the battlefield.
It now encompasses generational, cultural, educational and historical dimensions.
• The construction of museums commemorating north Korean soldiers killed in the Russia-Ukraine war
• The strategic designation of Russian as a foreign language taught to students
• The transfer of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia to Songdowon, where they are subjected to pro-Russian, anti-Western ideological indoctrination
This is not a temporary tactical alignment. It is a structural choice designed to be internalized by future generations.
The pattern is not new. Just as Kim Il Sung sent war orphans from the Korean War to Poland for ideological re-education, Putin has sent Ukrainian children northward, this time to north Korea, to reshape their identities and loyalties.
Kim Jong Un’s transformation: from reclusive leader to wartime commander
Until 2025, Kim Jong Un was widely viewed as a relatively reclusive leader.
Each new year, international media speculated about his health, the possibility of regime collapse, or sudden leadership change.
That image has now collapsed.
Since the beginning of 2026, Kim has appeared with striking frequency:
• Attending New Year’s performances
• Visiting munitions factories
• Conducting public inspections of missile test sites
• Expanding his visible diplomatic and military engagements
Kim Jong Un is no longer governing from behind the curtain.
He is presenting himself as the public face of a regime preparing for a long war.
This transformation coincides precisely with the maturation of the North Korea-Russia alliance.
north Korea is no longer merely enduring sanctions; it has become a functional partner within a wartime international order.
The north Korea-Russia-China axis and reordering of the world
To understand this alliance, one must view it through the lens of the north Korea-Russia-China triangle.
Kim Jong Un is aligning not only with Russia, but also closely with China. His participation in China’s commemoration of the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II was highly symbolic.
It publicly showcased north Korea, Russia and China as a shared historical and ideological community united by a common anti-Western narrative.
• Russia seeks manpower and strategic depth to sustain a prolonged war.
• north Korea is transforming from a sanctioned state into an active war partner.
• China provides strategic rear support and diplomatic insulation, reinforcing the trilateral axis.
Together, this structure forms a secondary front in Northeast Asia, exerting pressure on the United States, South Korea and Japan.
The era of “war versus peace” is over
The world is no longer divided between war and peace.
It is now entering an era defined by alliance blocs versus alliance blocs, a global order reorganized on the assumption of sustained conflict.
The letters exchanged between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin clearly mark this transition.
They are not gestures of goodwill.
They are strategy. Not rhetoric, but a blueprint for a restructured world order.
north Korea, Russia, and China are not preparing for a postwar world.
They are already operating within a world shaped by war itself.
This is not merely communication.
It is a declaration.
A signal.
And a warning.
Jihyun Park, a British Korean Conservative politician, is a North Korean escapee who fled twice from the country — in 1998, which resulted in a forced repatriation, and in 2008, which was successful.
