Kim Jong-un has publicly acknowledged that North Korean troops were deployed to clear landmines in Russia's Kursk region, praising their efforts in a speech at a ceremony in Pyongyang. State media carried the remarks on Saturday, marking a rare admission of the deadly tasks assigned to North Korean soldiers abroad.
According to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies, thousands of North Korean troops have been sent to support Russia's nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine. Analysts say Russia is providing financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies in return, helping the diplomatically isolated nation circumvent international sanctions on its nuclear and missile programmes.
During the ceremony, Kim hailed the return of an engineering regiment, noting that the soldiers wrote "letters to their hometowns and villages at breaks of the mine-clearing hours". He said nine members of the regiment died during the 120-day deployment that began in August, and awarded them state honours to "add eternal lustre" to their bravery.
Images released by state media showed a smiling Kim embracing returned soldiers, some of whom appeared injured and in wheelchairs. He also consoled families of the deceased and knelt before a portrait of a fallen soldier. Kim mentioned the "pain of waiting for 120 days" and praised the troops for turning "a vast area of danger zone into a safe and secure one". North Korea confirmed in April that it had deployed troops, and Kim recently appeared alongside Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping at a parade in Beijing.
