Kim Jong Un confirmed that North Korean soldiers fighting on the side of Russia should commit suicide to avoid capture

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has confirmed a policy that requires North Korean soldiers to commit suicide on the battlefield to avoid being captured in Russiaʼs war against Ukraine.

Kim made this statement at the opening of a memorial to fallen North Korean soldiers in Pyongyang, Bloomberg reports.

During the speech, the North Korean leader mentioned soldiers who “without hesitation” blew themselves up to “protect great honor”. According to him, they “expected no reward” but performed “outstanding feats”. Kim called their actions “heroic deaths”.

According to South Korean and Western intelligence, after the signing of a military pact between the DPRK and the Russian Federation in 2024, Pyongyang sent at least 10 000 soldiers and tens of thousands of containers with weapons to support Russiaʼs war against Ukraine.

Since then, information has begun to appear online that soldiers were ordered to commit suicide if they were threatened with capture. In total, as of September 2025, according to South Korean intelligence, almost two thousand North Korean soldiers had died in the war with the Russian Federation.

The Union of Russia and the DPRK

As early as January 4, 2024, Western media reported that Russia had received a shipment of ballistic missiles and launchers from the DPRK. On the same day, the US officially stated that Russia had short-range ballistic missiles from the DPRK and had launched them over Ukraine.

The first DPRK soldiers arrived at the front to fight for Russia against Ukraine back in October 2024, when it was about 12 thousand people. And in March 2025, North Korea sent another 3 thousand soldiers.

Initially, both sides denied this, but on April 26, 2025, Russia officially acknowledged for the first time the participation of North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine. Two days later, North Korea confirmed that its troops were participating in a full-scale war, including fighting on the Kursk Bulge.

In July 2025, Ukrainian intelligence noted that North Korea intends to triple the number of its military fighting on the side of Russia and send an additional 25 to 30 thousand soldiers to help Moscow.

And on April 27, 2026, a memorial museum dedicated to North Korean soldiers who participated in the war against Ukraine on the side of Russia was opened in the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang.

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