Kim Jong-un pays rare public tribute to North Korean soldiers killed in Ukraine

In a rare public admission that his military has lost members in the battle, Kim Jong-un has honored North Korean soldiers who died in Russia’s war with Ukraine by placing his hands on their returned coffins.

At a concert on Sunday to commemorate the first anniversary of a military pact between the North and Russia, pictures showed the North Korean leader stopping in front of a line of six coffins covered in the nation’s flag were shown on a screen.

In addition to photos commemorating a mutual defense agreement reached between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang in June of last year, the event at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre featured performances by North Korean and visiting Russian artists.

Troops from both nations flying their national flags were followed by scenes of Kim and the bodies of slain soldiers. One photograph allegedly displayed pages from a blood-stained notebook that had been recovered from a battlefield in the Kursk area of Russia and was thought to have belonged to a North Korean soldier.

The regime has been trying to portray its role in the crisis in Ukraine in a good light after denying for months that North Korean soldiers had been sent to fight alongside Russian forces.

Hong Min, a senior scholar at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told Yonhap that North Korea likely wished to portray the deceased soldiers as part of a narrative of victory rather than merely as sacrifices.

After the two nations confirmed the force deployment and proclaimed their joint operation to retake the Kursk region in western Russia a success, Hong continued, “the footage appears to have been released.”

North Korea’s main KRT television station aired footage of the banquet, which showed Kim, who occasionally looked tearful, sitting with his daughter Kim Ju-ae and his visitor, Olga Lyubimova, the Russian culture minister. The audience members were seen blotting their eyes.

According to the Korea Herald, the occasion marked the first time that North Korean civilians could view images and videos of soldiers deployed to Russia through state media.

The incident sparked faith in the “ties of friendship and the genuine internationalist obligation between the peoples and armies of the two countries that were forged at the cost of blood,” according to the state-run KCNA news agency.

Since last autumn, the North has reportedly sent 15,000 soldiers to fight in the conflict. South Korean MPs stated in April that it had suffered over 4,700 casualties, including 600 fatalities, while Seoul’s intelligence service recently asserted that more deployments would occur in July or August.

In addition, North Korea has allegedly sent Russia a lot of ammo, artillery shells, ballistic missiles, and other weaponry in exchange for the Kremlin’s satellite technology, weapons, and other aid.

Source: Guardian