Kim Jong Un wants just one thing for his ally Vladimir Putin in 2025 – a Russian victory.
The North Korean dictator said he hopes 2025′s New Year will be “recorded as the first year of war victory in the 21st century when the Russian army and people defeat neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory.”
Moscow has often excused its invasion of Ukraine by falsely claiming it is trying to eradicate neo-Nazism at the centre of its government.
Kyiv’s western allies actually believe that Putin sent troops into Ukraine in a land grab, and Russia has been compared to Nazi Germany itself by Poland.
Still, according to the Korean Central News Agency and the Russian state news agency TASS, Kim also claimed he was sending these wishes to Russia on behalf of the Korean population and all the service personnel of his military.
Kim also called Putin his “dearest friend and comrade,” and expressed a wish to to further strengthen their strategic partnership.
The two leaders signed a pact earlier this year which included a mutual defence clause, meaning they would have to step up if the other one was attacked.
North Korea has subsequently sent tens of thousands of troops to Russia to help it fight in the war against Ukraine, although neither side has confirmed this.
It’s thought Pyongyang saw Ukraine’s shock incursion into the Russian region of Kursk in August as an armed attack against its ally and a reason to deploy its own soldiers in the war.
Both South Korea and the US say more than thousand of those troops have already been killed or wounded in battle.
Just days after the two allied armies began working together on the frontline, the UK’s ministry of defence said: “Russian and DPRK forces are almost certainly experiencing interoperability difficulties.
“The two forces do not share a common language and DPRK troops almost certainly have difficulties integrating into Russia’s command and control structure.”
Both sides have also reportedly been sending poorly-trained troops to fight in the war, which may only worsen their losses.