North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russia's top presidential security adviser Sergei Shoigu in Pyongyang on Tuesday and discussed a "special military operation" in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine,

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a meeting with Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, the North's state media confirmed Wednesday, saying that Kim affirmed Pyongyang's cooperation with Moscow under their mutual defense treaty.

Russia's Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (not pictured) in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 4, 2025, in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency.