Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the reception on behalf of Foreign Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Choe Son-hui, Wonsan, July 12, 2025
12 July 2025 17:41
1210-12-07-2025
We are sincerely grateful to our Korean partners for the warm welcome, cordiality, and excellent organisation of the second round of our strategic dialogue, launched on the initiative of President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un.
In the past few years, our leaders have fully unlocked the immense potential that has always existed in the relations between Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. A defining moment in this historic partnership came in 2024, during President Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang, when the milestone Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was signed. While officially titled a strategic partnership, in essence, this treaty enshrines a genuine alliance.
The principles set forth in the treaty by President Putin and Chairman of State Affairs Kim Jong-un are being actively and consistently implemented across all areas. This includes dynamic efforts through the Russian-Korean Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, and the steady expansion of cultural, humanitarian and educational exchanges. The teaching of Russian is growing in the DPRK, just as Korean instruction continues to expand in Russia.
A landmark of our relations is the close joint work in the context of the special military operation conducted by the Russian Federation to resolve the Ukrainе crisis, which the West fomented over many years.
This is a true brotherhood in arms. Our leaders have agreed to perpetuate the memory of the heroes of this joint struggle for justice. Here in the DPRK, a monument has been erected to honour the Korean People's Army soldiers who fought alongside Russian troops to liberate the Kursk Region.
Similarly, a new monument in Moscow's Patriot Park will commemorate our shared victory over Japanese militarism in World War II. The joint feats of our soldiers in 1945 continue to inspire today's officers and soldiers, who now stand shoulder to shoulder in the Kursk Region. This continuity between generations will be a powerful moral compass guiding young people in both countries, encouraging them to carry on the traditions of courage and solidarity.
Russia and the DPRK honour the allied commitments enshrined in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty. This will remain unchanged.
I would like to highlight the global significance of our joint efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis. It is essential to restore the rights of people who were subjected to oppression following the coup in Kiev in February 2014 and the rise of the neo-Nazi regime. But this is also a fight for truth over falsehood, for a future, in which our vast and beautiful continent of Eurasia cannot be subordinated to NATO's ambitions.
I believe that - hopefully in the not-too-distant future - the international community will recognise this historic contribution in defence of international law, above all the core principle of sovereign equality and the right of peoples to determine their own destiny.
Both we and our Korean friends want evil to recede and take practical steps in this direction. We want peace and prosperity prevail for all nations, where interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states becomes unthinkable, and where remarkable places like Wonsan can fully realise their potential as centres of tourism, joy, and opportunity for Korean visitors, and, I hope, Russian tourists too.
Today's talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-hui, held as part of the second round of the Russian-Korean strategic dialogue, as well as my long, candid, and confidential conversation with Chairman of State Affairs Kim Jong-un, mark an important milestone in advancing our alliance and implementing the decisions made by our leaders.
I would like to propose a toast to the health and well-being of comrades Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, to the continued success of my esteemed colleague, DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, and to the realisation of the cherished hopes and dreams of all those gathered here.
As Comrade Choe Son-hui said, we are living through trying times. But I am confident that history will judge fairly, and we will be found on the right side of it.
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