Putin has reportedly sent a friendship letter to his pen pal, Kim Jong-un, praising the North Korean soldiers for helping the Kremlin’s efforts in Ukraine ahead of the new year
Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin has reportedly celebrated his “invincible friendship” with North Korea’s head of state Kim Jong-un in a New Year letter, according to North Korean media. It comes as relations between the two states are closer than ever, amid the Moscow–Pyongyang military deal created last year.
In a message sent to Pyongyang last week, Putin showered praise on North Korean soldiers helping the Kremlin’s efforts in Ukraine. Mad Vlad added that it proved a “militant fraternity” between the two countries.
According to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies, Kim Jong-Un sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in 2024, equipped with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.
It comes after Amazon blocked 1,800 job applications from Kim Jong-un’s North Korean agents. According to KCNA news agency, Putin wrote: “The heroic entry of soldiers of the Korean People’s Army into the battles for liberating the Kursk region from occupiers and the subsequent activities of Korean engineers in the land of Russia clearly proved the invincible friendship.”
He added that provisions of a “historic treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership” signed during his visit to Pyongyang in June last year had been fulfilled “thanks to our joint efforts”. This comes as a report revealed that North Korean hackers stole more than $2 billion (£1.5bn) in cryptocurrency in 2025, with the all time total at $6.75 billion (£5bn).
Data from Chainalysis revealed that North Korea has had a 51% year on year increase in crypto thefts, despite fewer attacks overall. The cryptocurrency industry witnessed over $3.4 billion in theft throughout 2025.
Despite fewer confirmed incidents from North Korean-linked groups, the region continues to remain the “largest nation-state threat to cryptocurrency security”.
The report found that these hackers accounted for a record 76 per cent of all service-level compromise, excluding personal wallet hacks.
This indicates a deliberate move towards fewer, but much larger, breaches.
Hackers are now targeting exchanges and custodians, where crypto wallets are held by third parties, instead of smaller decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms, which have seen improved security.
One example from this year is the eye-watering $1.5 billion theft in February from UAE-based exchange Bybit.
This was the largest crypto heist on record.
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