Kim Jong Un Publicly Mourns Troops Killed Fighting for Russia for First Time

Performers on stage in front of a screen showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un draping coffins with the national flag. SEOUL—Kim Jong Un held the first public commemoration for North Korean troops who died fighting in support of Russia’s war with Ukraine, in a ceremony likely aimed at preparing the population for further such deployments.

The disclosure occurred at a glitzy Pyongyang gala performance, where the North Korean leader hosted Russia’s culture minister, according to a Monday evening broadcast on Pyongyang’s state-run television.

In an undated video played at the event, photographs showed Kim, wearing a winter jacket, mourning soldiers and standing among a row of caskets that appeared to be placed on an airport tarmac. Kim was photographed placing both hands on top of caskets draped with North Korea’s red, blue and white national flag.

Watching the scene at the gala event held Sunday, Kim shed tears.

The event commemorated the first anniversary of Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mutual defense pact. Moscow has received major troop reinforcements and munitions, while Pyongyang got weapons-development assistance.

Through the imagery, Kim, the 41-year-old dictator, is likely aiming to exalt the deployment to Russia to prevent any dissent over his decision, while bracing the public for further deployments, said Michael Madden, an expert on North Korea’s leadership at the Stimson Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

“They are telecasting to North Korea’s military personnel that they could be deployed to a foreign country,” he said.

Moscow and Pyongyang first acknowledged that North Koreans had fought alongside the Russians in April.

North Korea’s deployment of around 15,000 troops since last fall has helped Russia almost entirely eject Ukrainian forces from the Russian Kursk region. Kim agreed last month to send 6,000 more military construction workers and demining specialists to Kursk for reconstruction work, as Russia pushes Ukraine on the front lines.

Around 600 North Koreans died on the battlefield, were cremated in Kursk and were flown back to Pyongyang, according to South Korean intelligence estimates. Thousands more have been wounded, according to Western assessments.

The video montage featured soldiers scanning a battlefield map and a bloodstained notebook, presumably belonging to a deceased soldier. “Let us bravely and without hesitation engage in this sacred battle,” it read.

Write to Dasl Yoon at [email protected]