Abstract: When Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in June 2024, his first trip there in nearly 25 years, the ceremonial welcome was expected. More notable was the substance of his meeting with Kim Jong Un, which produced a Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and formalized a military alliance between Russia and North Korea. By October 2024, about 11,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to Russia, mainly in Kursk; by late April 2025, South Korean intelligence estimated the total at around 15,000, with at least half still deployed. Today, Washington can still demand greater contributions from Seoul while living up to its own security commitments. Only a strong, steadfast United States can deter Kim, Putin, and Xi from aggression that would spell disaster for Washington and its allies.

Oriana Skylar Mastro is a Center Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Policy Lab at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Courtesy Assistant Professor of Political Science. Her research focuses on Chinese military and security policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, war termination, and coercive diplomacy. She is also a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, where she serves at the Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Reserve China Global Strategy. She previously taught at Georgetown University. Her books include Upstart: How China Became a Great Power (2024) and The Costs of Conversation: Obstacles to Peace Talks in Wartime (2019).

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