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Putin Vows to Support North Korea Against the United States
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un visit the Vostochny Сosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, Sept. 13, 2023. Photo: Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Tuesday to deepen trade and security ties with North Korea and to support it against the United States, as he headed to the reclusive nuclear-armed country for the first time in 24 years.
The US and its Asian allies are trying to work out just how far Russia will go in support of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whose country is the only one to have conducted nuclear weapon tests in the 21st century.
In a signal that Russia, a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council, is reassessing its entire approach to North Korea, Putin praised Pyongyang for resisting what he said was US economic pressure, blackmail, and threats.
In an article published by North Korean state media, Putin praised “Comrade” Kim, and promised to “jointly resist illegitimate unilateral restrictions,” develop trade, and strengthen security across Eurasia.
“Washington, refusing to implement previously reached agreements, continuously puts forward new, increasingly stringent, and obviously unacceptable demands,” Putin said in the article, printed on the front page of North Korea‘s Rodong Sinmun, the ruling Workers’ Party mouthpiece.
“Russia has always supported and will continue to support the DPRK and the heroic Korean people in their opposition to the insidious, dangerous, and aggressive enemy.”
Putin noted the Soviet Union was the first to recognize the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) founded by Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, less than two years before the 1950 Korean War.
North Korean state media also published articles praising Russia and supporting its military operations in Ukraine, calling them a “sacred war of all Russian citizens.”
Putin‘s state visit comes amid US accusations that North Korea has supplied “dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions to Russia” for use in Ukraine. South Korea, a staunch US ally, has raised similar concerns.
The White House said on Monday it was troubled by the deepening relationship between Russia and North Korea. The US State Department said it was “quite certain” Putin would be seeking arms to support his war in Ukraine.
Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers but have vowed to boost military ties, possibly including joint drills.
Russia is due to outproduce the whole NATO military alliance on ammunition production this year, so Putin‘s trip is likely aimed at underscoring to Washington just how disruptive Moscow can be on a host of global crises.
Russia in March vetoed the annual renewal of a panel of experts monitoring enforcement of longstanding United Nations sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT
Putin‘s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Russia and North Korea may sign a partnership agreement during the visit that would include security issues.
He said the deal would not be directed against any other country, but would “outline prospects for further cooperation.”
The visit will include one-on-one discussions between the two leaders, as well as a gala concert, state reception, honor guards, document signings, and a statement to the media, Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Ushakov as saying.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the ministers for natural resources, health, and transport, the heads of the Russian space agency and its railways, and Putin‘s point man for energy, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, will be part of the delegation.
Ahead of the visit, North Korea appears to have been making preparations for a possible military parade in downtown Pyongyang, commercial satellite imagery showed.
The summit presents the greatest threat to US national security since the Korean War, said Victor Cha, a former US national security official now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“This relationship, deep in history and reinvigorated by the war in Ukraine, undermines the security of Europe, Asia, and the US homeland,” he wrote in a report on Monday.
He urged Washington to work with Europe and other partners to increase economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang, engage with China, and launch a major human rights and information campaign to flood the North with outside media.
North Korea has been under UN sanctions for its ballistic missile and nuclear programs since 2006, and those measures have been strengthened over the years.
The Security Council has been divided over how to deal with Pyongyang.
Russia and China say more sanctions will not help and that joint military drills by the United States and South Korea merely provoke Pyongyang. Two years ago, they vetoed a US-led push to impose more UN sanctions on North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches.
Washington and its Asian allies accuse Beijing and Moscow of emboldening North Korea by shielding it from more sanctions.
After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam on June 19-20.
The post Putin Vows to Support North Korea Against the United States first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.