Kim Jong Un decorates North Korean soldiers serving in Ukraine war

For the first time in its history, North Korea has held an official ceremony to honor soldiers who have fought beyond its borders. The country’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, praised the work of North Korean troops who fought alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine on Thursday and awarded the title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the soldiers who returned from the conflict this week, according to a report from the state news agency KCNA on Friday. This is an unprecedented gesture that highlights the involvement of the secretive Asian regime in the conflict on European soil, as well as the increasingly close alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow.

In his speech, delivered at the Workers’ Party headquarters, Kim praised the soldiers deployed in the Russian border region of Kursk as “great heroes and patriots” and said their participation on the front lines “firmly defended the honor of the Korean People’s Army and guaranteed the existence and development of our nation.”

The North Korean leader referred to the operation in support of Russian forces to recapture the Kursk region, where Ukraine had managed to open a bridgehead in August 2024 and hold positions until the beginning of this year. Kim hailed the victory as “a great feat” and warned that the courage of his military demonstrates that “no army in the world can avoid the fate of becoming dead souls” if it faces North Korean troops.

KCNA has not detailed the number of soldiers decorated, but has published images of Kim effusively greeting army officers. The state news agency reports that a minute of silence was observed in memory of the fallen, and that Kim laid a wreath, consoled the families of the deceased, and placed the medals next to the portraits of the “martyrs” who “sacrificed their youth and lives, united by a common faith and will to carry out the country’s orders.” In addition, a concert was held for the soldiers who returned from Russia.

The ceremony stands in stark contrast to the secrecy surrounding Pyongyang’s involvement in the war last fall, when the first troops were detected on Russian soil. South Korean intelligence services estimate that around 15,000 soldiers have been deployed to the Kursk region since October of last year, and that some 600 have died and thousands have been wounded on the front lines.

The North Korean regime has also provided its ally with artillery shells, missiles, and long-range rocket launchers. South Korean news agency Yonhap reports, citing Russian media, that Pyongyang plans to send 5,000 military construction workers and 1,000 sappers to support reconstruction efforts.

Thursday’s recognition comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a letter to Kim commemorating the anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japanese occupation in 1945. In his letter, the Russian leader praised the “heroism” of the North Korean troops fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine and recalled the historic military cooperation between the two countries at the end of World War II, when Soviet and Korean soldiers fought together against Japan. Putin emphasized that the bonds of camaraderie forged during that war “remain strong and reliable” today.

Relations between Pyongyang and Moscow have been considerably strengthened after their leaders signed a strategic partnership agreement in June 2024 that includes a mutual defense pact in the event of aggression.

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