North Korea and Russia are conducting an unprecedented level of high-level exchanges, with three Russian ministers visiting the North simultaneously as the two countries prepare to mark the first anniversary of Russia's recapture of the Kursk region (a Russian border area briefly seized by Ukrainian forces in 2024). Meetings held at the Wonsan-Kalma seaside resort focused on bilateral cooperation, while Russian ministers also attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a friendship hospital, fulfilling agreements made at a June 2024 Kim-Putin summit. The flurry of diplomacy coincides with North Korea's planned opening of a memorial museum honouring its soldiers killed fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, underscoring the deepening military and political alignment between Pyongyang and Moscow.