North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) met with bereaved family members of fallen soldiers during a ceremony to award medals to combatants and commanders deployed to Russia, state media reported Monday. Photo by KCNA/EPA
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a ceremony to honor the country’s troops deployed to Russia to aid in its war with Ukraine, state media reported Friday, calling them “great heroes and great patriots” and presenting them with medals.
During the ceremony, which was held at the headquarters of the ruling party’s Central Committee, Kim awarded the title of “DPRK Hero” to returning combatants and commanding officers, state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.
Kim also placed medals next to portraits of Korean People’s Army soldiers killed in battle, praising them as “martyrs.”
“All the participants in the overseas operations who performed great feats to be recorded in the history of the country for its eternal prosperity and mightiness are all great men, great heroes and great patriots,” Kim said in a speech, according to KCNA.
“The victory won by the brave soldiers who participated in the war is a great feat that firmly defended the great honor of the KPA … and provided a sure guarantee for the existence and development of our state,” Kim said.
According to Seoul’s National Intelligence Service, North Korea has sent weapons and some 15,000 troops to Russia since 2024, primarily to help recapture lost territory in Kursk Province from Ukrainian forces.
In April, the NIS said that around 600 North Koreans had been killed fighting for Russia, while more than 4,000 had been wounded.
Russian media reported in June that the North is sending an additional 6,000 military workers and combat engineers to help rebuild the Kursk region.
Images released by state media showed the North Korean leader hugging medal recipients and the families of those killed in combat, as well as kneeling before a wall of portraits of the war dead.
Kim “met the bereaved families of the martyrs and consoled them, sharing with them the pain of loss,” KCNA said.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry on Friday said that a total of 101 portraits of fallen soldiers can be seen in the North’s photographs.
“This appears to be the first time the names and photos of deployed soldiers have been released,” ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong said at a press briefing.
She added that the ministry was monitoring to determine whether North Korea has ended its deployment of troops to Russia.
The ceremony follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky aimed at brokering a peace agreement. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week downplayed talk of an imminent Moscow-Kyiv summit.
“When it comes to high-level meetings, they must be meticulously prepared at all preceding stages,” Lavrov said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Putin, meanwhile, praised the “bravery, heroism and self-sacrificing spirit” of North Korean troops in a phone call to Kim last week, KCNA reported.
