North Korea recognizes losses in the war in Ukraine: photo released
1 July 2025 00:39
North Korea has published photos of soldiers sent to Russia for the first time. The photo shows dictator Kim Jong-un receiving the bodies of fallen soldiers. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Yonhap and News1.
Korean Central Television showed footage of the ceremony of returning the soldiers’ remains to North Korea. One of the videos shows Kim Jong-un taking part in the farewell, personally placing the DPRK national flag on the coffin. Next to him are his sister Kim Yo-jong and Foreign Minister Choi Song-hee.
The participants of the ceremony were wearing winter clothes, which may indicate that the event took place in winter, and the repatriation of the bodies began several months ago.
Photos from the ceremony were shown against the backdrop of a joint event between North Korea and Russia in Pyongyang. The event was dedicated to the first anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between the two countries. It is within the framework of this cooperation that the deployment of North Korean troops to the territory of Russia was probably carried out.
Joint photos of North Korean and Russian soldiers in the combat zone have also been published.
For the first time for its own audience, the DPRK showed video footage of Kim Jong-un allegedly approving of the war plans. The video shows the participation of North Korean forces in the Kursk region and the order to launch attacks between October 22 and December 22, 2024.
This is the first public confirmation of the presence of the North Korean military on the territory of Russia, which is involved in the war against Ukraine. The video and photos were first made available to the general North Korean population through state television channels.
Cooperation between the DPRK and Russia
on June 19, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid his first visit to North Korea in 24 years. During this visit, he signed an agreement on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un. After the signing, Putin noted that this agreement provides for assistance in case of aggression against one of the parties. Recently, the agreement was submitted for ratification in the Russian parliament. The agreement explicitly provides for military assistance:
“If one of the parties is subjected to an armed attack by any state or several states and is thus in a state of war, the other party shall immediately provide military and other assistance by all means at its disposal in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
After the visit, it became known that the DPRK was supplying Russia with artillery shells, which it used in the war against Ukraine. It was reported that Russia had fired 6 million such shells at Ukraine.
Since October last year, it has become known that North Korean instructors have appeared on the frontlines of the Russian-Ukrainian war. And later it turned out that entire units of DPRK soldiers were fighting on the side of the Russians in the Kursk region. According to the head of the GRU, Kirill Budanov, there should have been 11-13 thousand such soldiers.
Ukrainian journalists even recorded the “unpacking” of a DPRK soldier.
