North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it sent troops to Russia to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine, and that its forces had contributed to taking back Russian territory held by Ukraine’s military in the Kursk region.
In a statement provided to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday, the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party said that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, had sent troops into combat alongside Russian forces as part of a mutual defence treaty between Moscow and Pyongyang.
The KCNA quoted Kim as saying that soldiers were deployed to “annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces”.
“They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
North Korea “regards it as an honour to have an alliance with such a powerful state as the Russian Federation”, KCNA said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in June last year, committing the two countries to come to each other’s assistance, militarily, in the event of war.
According to South Korea’s official Yonhap News Agency, Kim also said that a monument would be built soon in the capital, Pyongyang, to honour those who had fought against Ukraine.
“Flowers praying for immortality will be placed before the tombstones of the fallen soldiers, effectively acknowledging troops killed in combat,” Yonhap reports, noting that North Korea had so far remained silent about the thousands of soldiers it had sent to Russia in October.
Ukrainian officials said earlier this year that some 14,000 North Koreans were deployed against its forces, including 3,000 reinforcements who were sent to replace the North Koreans’ early battlefield losses.
Lacking armoured vehicles and unfamiliar with drone warfare, the North Koreans had taken heavy casualties early on in fighting but adapted quickly, according to reports, and later contributed to reclaiming Russia’s Kursk region from occupying Ukrainian forces.
Estimates of the casualty rate among North Korean forces fighting for Russia have varied widely.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in January that about 300 North Korean soldiers were killed in combat and another 2,700 had been injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, while the United States estimated a lower figure of about 1,200 casualties.
North Korea’s statement follows Russia’s chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, on Saturday hailing the “heroism” of the North Korean soldiers, who he said “provided significant assistance in defeating the group of Ukrainian armed forces”, while reporting to Putin that Kursk had been regained from Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine’s General Staff quickly countered, saying that its defensive operation in certain areas in Kursk was continuing.
The US State Department said in a statement on Sunday evening that North Korea and other “third countries” had “perpetuated” Russia’s war on Ukraine and that it must end, as should Moscow’s support for Pyongyang.
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