North Korean state media on Friday, August 22, released new images of leader Kim Jong Un kneeling before portraits of soldiers killed while fighting for Russia in Ukraine, as well as consoling survivors of the conflict.
The images showed Kim placing medals and flowers beside portraits of the fallen, hugging an emotional soldier who buried his face in the leader’s chest, and addressing a ceremony honouring troops who fought in Russia’s Kursk region. Pyongyang described the men as “heroes” who sacrificed their youth and lives.
According to South Korean and Western intelligence, North Korea sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia in 2024, alongside shipments of artillery shells, missiles, and rocket systems. Seoul has estimated that about 600 North Korean soldiers were killed and thousands more wounded in combat.
At the Workers’ Party headquarters in Pyongyang, portraits of the fallen were displayed on stage as Kim praised the returning soldiers for enduring “the hail of bullets and bombs of the life-and-death war in the foreign country,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Kim awarded commanding officers the title of “DPRK hero” for their roles in overseas operations and met with bereaved families to share “the pain of loss.” North Korea only publicly confirmed in April that its troops were deployed to Ukraine and had suffered casualties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week described North Korean fighters as “heroic” in a letter to Kim, while Washington has accused Moscow of repaying Pyongyang’s support with advanced satellite and space technology. Analysts note that intercontinental ballistic missiles and satellite launch systems rely on similar technology.
US President Donald Trump has recently engaged in high-level talks with Russian and Ukrainian leaders to end the war, but progress remains limited.