North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has presented awards to soldiers who fought against Ukraine in the Kursk region, calling them "heroes and patriots".
This is reported by the state agency KCNA and Yonhap.
The commanders and soldiers of the overseas operations unit of the Korean Peopleʼs Army received state awards. This is the first time that North Korea has awarded its soldiers who fought abroad.
The award ceremony was attended by commanders and soldiers who participated in the battles in the Kursk region, as well as the families of the fallen soldiers.
In his speech at the ceremony, the North Korean leader called the servicemen "great heroes and patriots".
According to Kim Jong Un, they "in bloody battles not for life but for death" showed the whole world "outstanding ideological, spiritual superiority and fighting spirit, which no army in the world can match".
Kim Jong Un awarded the title of Hero of the DPRK to commanders and soldiers, and placed medals next to 101 portraits of the dead on a memorial wall. However, it is not known whether all of them died in combat.
The Union of Russia and the DPRK
Russia is using North Korean soldiers in the war with Ukraine — the first of them arrived at the front in October 2024, when it was about 12 000 people. And in March 2025, North Korea sent another 3 000 soldiers.
Initially, both sides denied this, but on April 26 of this year, 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 Russiaʼs full-scale war against Ukraine, including fighting on the Kursk Bulge.
South Korean lawmakers, citing intelligence, stated that as of April, out of 15 000 fighters, the DPRK had lost approximately 4 700, of whom 600 were killed.
In addition to manpower, the DPRK provides Russia with weapons. As early as January 4, 2024, Western media wrote that Russia had received a batch of ballistic missiles from the DPRK (several dozen) and launchers for them. 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 head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (known as GUR) Kyrylo Budanov said in January 2025 that North Korea plans to send another 150 ballistic missiles to Russia this year.
In April, Reuters reported that North Korea had handed over up to 6 million shells to Russia. Without them, Russia would not have been able to wage war so actively. At some points last year, the majority of the shells used by individual Russian units were North Korean. In some places, it was 100%. The publication noted that this was Russiaʼs most significant direct military assistance in the war.
In July, Ukrainian intelligence noted that North Korea intends to triple the number of its military fighting on the side of Russia and send an additional 25 000 to 30 000 soldiers to help Moscow.
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