North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the Liberation Tower in Pyongyang on Friday to lay a wreath honouring Soviet soldiers who helped drive Japanese forces from the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II. The ceremony, held on the eve of the 81st anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule — which lasted from 1910 to 1945 — served as a pointed display of the deepening relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Kim declared that the shared history and "ties of blood" between North Korea and Russia formed a "fundamental cornerstone and inexhaustible driving force" for bilateral relations. He pledged that their "great friendship and unity" would be carried forward "generation after generation." His wife, Ri Sol-ju, and daughter, Ju-ae — making her first known appearance at the tower — accompanied him at the commemoration. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message marking the occasion, describing the two countries' "militant friendship and mutual assistance" as having elevated ties to an "unprecedentedly high level of comprehensive strategic partnership." Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also sent greetings to Kim.
The visit was Kim's third to the Liberation Tower on Liberation Day since the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2024, an agreement that has underpinned growing military cooperation. That cooperation has moved well beyond diplomacy: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that Russia used North Korean ballistic missiles in attacks on Zaporizhzhia, a city in southeastern Ukraine, and has warned that Russia intends to deploy tens of thousands of North Korean troops — potentially as many as 50,000 — to support its war effort.
The symbolism of the annual tribute is significant. By honouring Soviet sacrifice at the Liberation Tower — a monument in central Pyongyang built to commemorate the Red Army's role in ending Japanese rule — North Korea frames its current alignment with Russia as a natural continuation of a historical alliance rather than a transactional wartime arrangement. Putin's language about "pressing bilateral and international issues" was widely read as a reference to that expanding military axis.
The deepening partnership has drawn sustained international concern. Critics argue that North Korean troops and weapons are prolonging a conflict that has caused enormous civilian suffering in Ukraine, while Pyongyang and Moscow maintain that their cooperation falls within the bounds of a legitimate strategic relationship between sovereign states.