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Hello and welcome to News Hour.
It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service studios in central London.
I'm Tim Franks.
And it was by coincidence, it was just a couple of weeks ago that I mentioned on air, on News Hour,
for the first time as far as I can remember, the town of Wonsan on North Korea's east coast.
That was because Kim Jong-un had just inaugurated a brand new beach resort there.
Today, Wonsong has been back in the news, not for its swimming pools or water slides,
but as the venue for embraces and smiles between Kim and the Russian Foreign Minister,
Sergei Lavrov.
The North Korean leader promised what he called his full support for Russia's war in Ukraine,
That has been up to now,
not just in the vast amount of ammunition Pyongyang is supplying,
but also a considerable number of soldiers to fight on the ground.
Sergei Ratchenko is the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Kissinger Centre for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University and joins us now.
Sergei, thanks for your time here on NewsHour.
What's in it for both sides, do you think?
Well, thank you for having me, Tim.
First of all, Russia and Korea now actually are treaty allies.
About a year ago, they concluded a treaty of alliance,