In a high-profile ceremony that underscores the deepening military alliance between North Korea and Russia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov on Sunday to unveil a new memorial in Pyongyang honoring North Korean personnel killed while fighting in the ongoing Ukraine war.
The ceremonial opening of the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at the Overseas Military Operations featured a flyover by North Korean military jets and the release of white balloons into the sky, as the two leaders together unveiled a commemorative statue and opened the doors of the new memorial facility. The event was intentionally scheduled to align with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s claim to have reclaimed full control over portions of the Kursk region, which Ukraine first entered in a surprise incursion in August 2024.
Public confirmation of North Korean troop deployments to support Russia’s military operations comes amid widespread intelligence estimates from third-party observers, as neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has released official casualty or deployment figures. South Korean intelligence assessments put the total number of North Korean troops sent to Russia’s Kursk offensive at no fewer than 15,000, with approximately 2,000 of those personnel confirmed killed in combat, according to Seoul’s calculations.
According to North Korean state media outlet KCNA, Kim used the occasion to reaffirm Pyongyang’s unwavering backing for Moscow’s strategic objectives in Ukraine. He stated that North Korea would continue to fully support the Russian Federation’s efforts to protect its national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and core security interests, adding that he is confident Russia will ultimately prevail in what he described as a “just sacred war.”
Russian state news agencies report that Belousov used his visit to hold detailed talks with North Korean officials on expanding long-term military cooperation between the two countries. Beyond his meeting with Belousov, Kim also held discussions with Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower parliament and a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This latest high-level diplomatic engagement builds on a series of increasingly close ties between the two nations over the past two years. In September 2025, during a sideline meeting at China’s Beijing military parade where both Putin and Kim attended as invited guests, Putin publicly thanked Kim for North Korea’s military support, noting that North Korean soldiers had fought with exceptional courage and heroism in combat. Just months earlier, in June 2024, the two leaders signed a landmark mutual defense treaty that commits both nations to provide military assistance to the other in the event of an armed aggression against either party, an agreement Kim hailed at the time as the strongest bilateral treaty in North Korea’s modern history.
In addition to its deployment of combat troops, North Korea has also committed to sending thousands of civilian workers to assist with reconstruction efforts in the war-damaged Kursk region. International analysts widely believe that North Korea has received substantial compensation in exchange for its military and logistical support, including shipments of food, direct financial assistance, and advanced military technical expertise from Moscow.