It was a sight unlike any most North Koreans had probably ever seen: their nation’s leader, Kim Jong-un, looking somber and leaning over a coffin draped in their flag. The moment, as shown on state television, showed the remembrance of troops killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine, a conflict in which Mr. Kim tried to parlay their sacrifices into expanding military ties with Moscow.
The event, which Mr. Kim and his teenage daughter and potential successor, Kim Ju-ae, attended on Sunday with a Russian delegation, featured Russian and North Korean art performances in Pyongyang. Both governments organized events to celebrate the first anniversary of a treaty of mutual defense and cooperation that Mr. Kim signed with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
It was also an occasion for Mr. Kim to highlight the contributions North Korea has made to Russia’s war against Ukraine by showing his people, for the first time, images of North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces.
North Korea has sent an estimated 15,000 North Korean troops, as well as large shipments of artillery shells, missiles and other weapons, to aid Russia’s war efforts, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and U.S. officials. North Korean troops were believed to have suffered 4,700 casualties, including 600 deaths, South Korean intelligence officials told Parliament in April.
North Korea formally confirmed its troops’ deployment and casualties in April when it promised a monument in their honor in Pyongyang, and flowers adorning “the tombstones of the fallen soldiers.”
But it was not until Monday that the North’s state television aired footage to the wider public of its soldiers fighting in Russia’s war and the arrival of caskets containing those who were killed. The images flashed in the backdrop of the stage as a female singer sang “the heroes will live on in our hearts forever.”
In the images, Mr. Kim was shown caressing a casket draped with a North Korean flag while North Korean and Russian officials stood nearby. It was unclear from the footage when the caskets arrived from Russia. Mr. Kim and the officials wore jackets, suggesting that the handover of the remains took place months ago, when the weather was still cool.
The backdrop images also showed victorious North Korean and Russian troops posing for photos, as well as a North Korean soldier in full combat gear rubbing his face in a North Korean flag. They also contained a bloodstained page from a notebook that apparently belonged to a slain North Korean soldier.
“The decisive moment has finally come,” read the handwritten message there, whose authenticity could not be verified independently. “Let us bravely fight this sacred battle with the boundless love and trust bestowed upon us by our beloved Supreme Commander,” it read.
North Koreans in the audience wept, and Russian delegates wiped teary eyes. Mr. Kim stared ahead stoically.
By airing such footage and photos on state TV in a rare tribute to the soldiers, Mr. Kim’s government was trying to boost the morale of his military and galvanize popular support for his decision to send troops to Russia, South Korean officials said in a background briefing on Tuesday.
Showing such scenes in the presence of the Russian delegation allowed Mr. Kim to highlight the sacrifices his troops have made for Russia and the rewards he sought from Moscow, the officials said.
North Korea has been one of Mr. Putin’s strongest supporters since his invasion of Ukraine began three years ago, providing Moscow with sorely needed troops and munitions.
After Sergei K. Shoigu, a close aide to Mr. Putin, met with Mr. Kim in Pyongyang last month, the Kremlin said North Korea planned to send an additional 6,000 troops — including 5,000 military construction workers and 1,000 combat engineers — to the Kursk region that North Korean troops had helped Russia retake from Ukraine. South Korean officials said the additional deployment could take place in the next couple of months.
In return, the impoverished and heavily sanctioned North is believed to have received oil, food, and weapons technologies that South Korea and American officials feared would help modernize its military.
Some analysts say that the expanding ties between Pyongyang and Moscow could peter out once Russia’s war against Ukraine ends. But others say that Mr. Kim seeks a lasting partnership with Moscow to lessen North Korea’s overreliance on China and to strengthen its leverage with the United States and South Korea.
Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea.
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