North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with the families of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine and offered condolences for their “unbearable pain”, state media said Saturday.
Pyongyang has not confirmed the number of its soldiers that died fighting for Russia, though Seoul estimates around 600, with thousands more wounded.
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said the North sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in 2024 — primarily to the Kursk region — along with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.
Kim delivered a speech to the families on Friday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, after meeting with only some of them last week at another public ceremony awarding honors to the soldiers.
“I thought a lot about other martyrs’ families who were not present there. So, I had this meeting arranged as I wanted to meet and console the bereaved families of all the heroes and relieve them of their sorrow and anguish even a little,” Kim said in his speech, according to KCNA.
He pledged to erect a monument in the capital as well as a new street for the bereaved families, while the state would give full support to the troop’s children.
“My heart breaks and aches more at the sight of those little children,” he said.
“I, our state and our army will take full responsibility for them and train them admirably as staunch and courageous fighters like their fathers,” he added.
North Korea only confirmed it had deployed troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine in April and admitted that its soldiers had been killed in combat.
At the ceremony last week, images released by KCNA showed an emotional Kim embracing a returned solider who appeared overwhelmed, burying his face in the leader’s chest.
The leader was also seen kneeling before a portrait of a fallen soldier to pay his respects and placing medals and flowers beside images of the dead.
In early July, state media again showed a visibly emotional Kim honouring flag-draped coffins, apparently of the deceased soldiers returning home.
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© Agence France-Presse
