Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in the North Korean resort city of Wonsan on 11 July for a three-day visit that Moscow and Pyongyang described as a second round of “strategic dialogue.” The trip follows the mutual defence treaty the two countries signed in 2024, which upgraded their relationship to a formal alliance. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received Lavrov on 12 July and, according to the Korean Central News Agency, said the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was “ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership” to resolve the war in Ukraine. Lavrov conveyed President Vladimir Putin’s greetings and discussed implementation of accords reached at last year’s Putin-Kim summit. Official readouts highlighted plans to expand military and economic cooperation. Moscow thanked Pyongyang for sending troops and engineers to Russia’s Kursk region; South Korean intelligence puts the current North Korean deployment at roughly 10,000 personnel, while Russia’s foreign ministry says another 6,000 construction and sapper units are being prepared. Western media, citing allied intelligence, have reported discussions of an even larger contingent of up to 30,000 soldiers. Lavrov left North Korea on 14 July for Beijing, where he and foreign ministers from other Shanghai Cooperation Organization members were received by President Xi Jinping. Chinese and Russian statements said the Beijing talks focused on preparations for Putin’s visit to China at the end of August, underscoring Moscow’s push to deepen Asian partnerships as its confrontation with the West over Ukraine intensifies.