SpaceWar.com reports: “Russia’s President Vladimir Putin touted an ‘invincible friendship’ with North Korea in a New Year letter to leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported Thursday.

In the message, received in Pyongyang last week, Putin praised the participation of North Korean soldiers aiding Moscow’s war effort against Ukraine, saying it had proved a ‘militant fraternity’ between the two nations.

South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have estimated that the North sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in 2024 — primarily to the Kursk region — along with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.

‘The heroic entry of soldiers of the Korean People’s Army into the battles for liberating the Kursk region from occupiers and the subsequent activities of Korean engineers in the land of Russia clearly proved the invincible friendship,’ Putin wrote, according to the official KCNA news agency.

He added that the provisions of a ‘historic treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership’ signed during his visit to Pyongyang in June last year had been fulfilled ‘thanks to our joint efforts’.

The pact includes a mutual defence clause pledging immediate military assistance if either country faces armed aggression…”