editorial

Twenty-six years have passed since the adoption of the DPRK-Russia joint declaration.

In July 2000, Comrade Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Russian Federation, visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the invitation of Comrade Kim Jong Il, Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK.

A summit meeting and talks were held and the joint declaration was adopted during his visit.

The joint declaration affirmed that the further development of bilateral cooperation and close mutual cooperation conforms to the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries and the trend towards building a multipolar world and establishing a new international order based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation. It also confirmed a common view on different issues, including the matter of advocating the strengthening of strategic and regional stability and the weakening of the elements of the use of power in international relations and opposing the acts of threatening the security of sovereign states and global peace as a whole, the matter of promoting and developing cooperation in various fields between the two countries and the matter of making the 21st century a century when all the people across the world enjoy prosperity.

The adoption of the joint declaration was of great significance not only in the development of bilateral relations but also in the sound development of international relations and the maintenance of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world.

The friendly and cooperative relations have developed on a new level since the adoption of the declaration.

Chairman Kim Jong Il visited Russia in 2001, 2002 and 2011, making a great contribution to strengthening the friendly ties between the two countries. During his visits, the top leaders of the two countries confirmed the historic significance of the joint declaration and agreed on the specific orientation and measures for ensuring peace and security in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world and for further developing bilateral cooperation in politics, the economy, military, science and technology, culture and other fields.

The DPRK-Russia friendly relations have greeted a new heyday in recent years.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, visited Vladivostok of the Russian Federation in April 2019 and met with Comrade Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Russian Federation. Through the significant meeting, he formed a close friendship with his Russian counterpart and further developed the close bonds forged with blood between the peoples of the two countries.

The top leaders of the two countries met again in September 2023 and June 2024.

During their Pyongyang summit meeting, they signed a treaty on the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. The treaty put the bilateral relations with a long-standing tradition on a new strategic level and provided a legal framework for realizing the far-reaching plan of the leaderships of the two countries and the desire of their peoples for building powerful states while firmly protecting the security environment of the region and the world in conformity with the common interests.

General Secretary Kim Jong Un and President Putin met again and had talks on September 3 2025 when they participated in the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War and discussed in detail the long-term plans for cooperation between the two countries, reconfirming their steadfast will to keep leading the bilateral relations onto a high level.

Under the leadership of the top leaders, the DPRK and Russia are further strengthening the militant ties and cooperation by expanding exchanges and cooperation in various fields while channelling efforts into bolstering up the capability for self-defence to cope with the manoeuvres of the hostile forces dead set on threatening their sovereignty and security environment and harming their development interests.

It is the consistent stand of the WPK and the government of the DPRK to steadily expand and develop the traditional bilateral friendly relations in conformity with the common interests.