The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday seemed to acknowledge for the first time that the troops he sent to fight Ukraine for Russian President Vladimir Putin and have suffered losses.
In a ceremony that displays the faces of 100 North Korean soldiers and attended by their family members, Kim honored the “heroic” soldiers while he hugged children and tears.
Kim first acknowledged that he sent thousands of troops to fight for Putin in April in the Kursk region in Russia, before he acknowledged that there had been some dead at the beginning of July when he mourn over coffins with North Korean flags draped over them.
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North -Korean Tiran Kim Jong un Hugs Surviving Soldiers sent to fight for Vladimir Putin in the Kursk region adjacent to Ukraine, during the ceremony in Noord -Korea on August 22, 2025. (East2West)
But the ceremony on Friday is the first time that he acknowledges that more than a handful of soldiers were killed -although it is still just a fraction of the approximately 600 troops killed in the Kursk fight that the information of South Korea reported earlier this year.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in April that of the 15,000 North Korean troops sent to fight in Russia, there were around 4,700 victims.
“The combat activities of overseas operational forces … proven without regrets the power of the Heroic [North Korean] Army, “said Kim, according to East2West News Service.” The liberation of Kursk proved the fighting spirit of the heroes. “
The Russian troops are largely recaptured after Ukraine launched a cross -border operation in Russia in August 2024, although reports confirm that fighting in the area will continue to exist while Ukrainian troops continue to deal with Russian troops in the region.
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North -Korean Tiran Kim Jong un Hugs Surviving Soldiers sent to fight for Vladimir Putin in the Kursk region adjacent to Ukraine, during the ceremony in Noord -Korea on August 22, 2025. (East2West)
The Ukrainian General Staff on Thursday said that the unmanned Systems Forces (USF) of Ukraine, together with other non-specified Ukrainian troops, have performed long-distance drone strikes against the Novoshakhtinsky-Olieraffinader, that is a Van-Rui-forces and is a Van-Rukraine one and one of the Ukraine-R-Ruinne and one-Red forces and one-Red forces and one-Russian forces and one-Russian forces and one-Russian forces and one-Russian forces and one-Russian forces of Ukraine and A Products and Ukraine-Russia and a Russian forces of Ukrainian 7.5 million tons of oil provided, which are supplied in the world’s world.
Up to 12,000 Noord -Korean troops were sent to Kursk in the fall from 2024, before another 3,000 were used in early 2025 to combat Ukraine operation. It is unclear how many North Korean troops remain in the Southwest Russian region.
Earlier this year, reports suggested that Noord -Korea could try to send extra troops to help Moscow by the end of the summer, although it is unclear whether extra foreign soldiers have been deployed in Russia.
North -Korean Tiran Kim Jong un Hugs Surviving Soldiers sent to fight for Vladimir Putin in the Kursk region adjacent to Ukraine, during the ceremony in Noord -Korea on August 22, 2025. (East2West)
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On Friday, Kim suggested that the involvement of Noord -Korea could end up in the Russian war against Ukraine and greet the ‘victorious conclusion of overseas military operations’.
Although it is also unclear whether this means that troops that have already been used in Russia can also be returned home soon.
