Pyongyang/Moscow, November 30, 2025 – In a striking symbol of the burgeoning alliance between two of the world's most isolated nations, North Korea has mandated Russian as a compulsory subject in its school curriculum starting from the fourth grade, Russian officials confirmed this week. The move, announced by Alexander Kozlov, Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and co-chair of the Russia-North Korea Intergovernmental Commission, underscores the rapid intensification of educational, cultural, and military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
This development comes as North Korea continues to provide critical military support to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, including the deployment of thousands of troops, while receiving advanced technology and economic aid in return.
Kozlov’s remarks were made during a commission meeting in Moscow on November 27. He stated that Russian has long been among the top three most popular foreign languages in North Korea, with approximately 600 North Koreans currently studying it at a professional level. In Russia, over 3,000 schoolchildren are learning Korean, mostly as a second or third foreign language, while around 300 university students are enrolled in Korean studies programs.
This educational shift is part of a much broader and deeper partnership. Joint training programs are underway for North Korean specialists in banking, energy, medicine, and geology. In 2025 alone, 29 North Korean geologists completed advanced courses in Russia. Russia is also building a dedicated Center for Open Education in Russian at Kim Chol Ju University of Education in Pyongyang, set to open in 2026.
The introduction of compulsory Russian reflects a deliberate revival of Soviet-era ties. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Russian language education in North Korea sharply declined, with English and Chinese taking precedence. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine dramatically reversed that trend, transforming Pyongyang into one of Moscow’s most important strategic partners.
The cornerstone of the current relationship is the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed on June 19, 2024, during President Vladimir Putin’s historic visit to Pyongyang—the first in 24 years. Ratified by both countries in November 2024 and entering into force on December 4, the treaty includes a mutual defense clause: each side is obligated to provide military assistance if the other is attacked. This marks the strongest security pact between the two nations since the 1961 Soviet–North Korean treaty.
Military cooperation has been the most visible and controversial aspect of the partnership. Since late 2024, North Korea has deployed an estimated 10,000–15,000 troops to support Russian forces, primarily in the Kursk region. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported in April 2025 that at least 600 North Korean soldiers had been killed and more than 4,700 wounded or injured since deployment began. By September 2025, the death toll was estimated to exceed 2,000, with Ukrainian and Western sources describing North Korean units suffering heavy casualties due to inexperience with modern drone warfare and artillery barrages.
On September 3, 2025, during a meeting with Kim Jong Un on the sidelines of a summit in Beijing, President Putin publicly thanked North Korea for sending troops to help repel Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk, praising their “bravery and heroism.” It was the first time the Kremlin openly acknowledged North Korean combat participation, which Putin said had occurred at Kim Jong Un’s personal initiative.
Beyond manpower, North Korea has supplied Russia with massive quantities of artillery shells—over 12 million since 2024—along with short-range ballistic missiles and multiple rocket launchers. In return, Russia has provided food, fuel, hard currency, and advanced military technology, including assistance with satellite guidance systems and possibly ICBM re-entry vehicles.
Economic and cultural ties are expanding in parallel. Russian tourism to North Korea has more than doubled in 2025, with over 5,000 visitors. Infrastructure projects, including a new bridge across the Tumen River, are progressing. Joint medical training programs are active, and energy cooperation discussions are underway to help alleviate North Korea’s chronic power shortages.
For both leaderships, the partnership offers strategic breathing room. Russia gains access to vast North Korean munitions stockpiles at a time when its own defense industry is stretched thin. North Korea, in turn, secures economic lifelines and technological upgrades that help it evade Western sanctions and advance its nuclear and missile programs.
The mandatory Russian language curriculum, set to begin nationwide on April 1, 2026, will reach millions of North Korean students over the coming years. Combined with growing university exchanges—96 North Koreans were admitted to Russian universities in the 2024–2025 academic year—the initiative is designed to cultivate a generation fluent in Russian language and sympathetic to Moscow’s worldview.
As classrooms in Pyongyang begin echoing with Cyrillic lessons and Russian folk songs, the alliance between these two heavily sanctioned states has moved far beyond tactical opportunism. It is evolving into a comprehensive, long-term strategic partnership—one that revives Cold War dynamics in a new geopolitical era.
