Overview
- State media showed Kim attending a lavish Pyongyang celebration with his daughter Kim Ju-ae and wife Ri Sol-ju, reinforcing carefully curated family imagery.
- In a New Year letter to forces deployed abroad, Kim urged troops to “be brave,” told them “Behind you are Pyongyang and Moscow,” and praised their role in forging an “invincible alliance.”
- South Korean and Western assessments say Pyongyang has dispatched more than 10,000 personnel and conventional arms to support Russia in Ukraine, with at least 600 reported dead and thousands wounded.
- Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial support, military technology, and food and energy supplies from Russia in return for its assistance.
- Kim focused his speech on domestic unity and preparations for the Ninth Workers’ Party Congress, offered no outreach to Seoul or Washington, and hinted at further “remarkable feats” on overseas battlefields in 2026.