North Korean leader Kim Jong praised the fallen soldiers of his country in the War of Russia against Ukraine as “heroes” in an emotional awards ceremony, state media said Friday, in a rare public admission of losses that Pyongyang has suffered in the conflict.
The North Korean leader “extended the deep gratitude and the warmest militant” to those who had returned home “despite the hail of bullets and bombs of the war of life and death in the foreign country,” said state news agency 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,” said Kim, saying, referring to his military, the Korean people army.
The photos published by the state media showed Kim recommendation badges in the soldiers’ uniforms, as well as in the photo frames of the deceased soldiers hanging on a wall. They also showed him to gather and hug the crying relatives of deceased soldiers.
Kcna said Kim put a flower on a commemorative wall and paid a silent tribute at the ceremony, during which the national anthem was also played.
The ceremony on Thursday took place a week after Kim received a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin who also described North Korean troops as “heroic.”
“The bonds of militant friendship, good will and mutual help that consolidated in the days of the war have long been solid and reliable even today,” Putin said in the letter published by the voice of the state media of North Korea of North Korea.
Pyongyang and Moscow have forged increasing and ballistic.
Neither Russia nor North Korea confirmed the deployments until months after Pyongyang sent to its first soldiers the past autumn. Although the two countries have not revealed the exact number of troops involved, it could be as high as 15,000, according to South Korean, American and Ukrainian officials.
Of these, it is believed that some 600 were killed, said the Espionage Agency of South Korea, and thousands most injured.
Although North Korea has one of the largest military in the world, his troops have had little experience in fighting the real world since the end of the Korean War in 1953. But they are strongly loyal to Kim and are trained to take his life instead of surrender, the former North Korea soldiers have told NBC News.
According to the intelligence of South Korea, there was at least one incident in which a North Korean soldier who sought to avoid capture by the Ukrainian forces was killed while trying to detonate a grenade and shout the name of Kim.
It is not clear how many troops from North Korea are in the first line. South Korea legislators said after an intelligence conference in June that North Korea could deploy additional troops in Russia in July or August and continued to supply Moscow weapons.
