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north korea Construction of a memorial has started for this Soldiers who died fighting for Russia in the Ukraine war, State media reported.
Leaders participating in the groundbreaking ceremony in Pyongyang Kim Jong Un Jong Un The new monument was declared a great symbol of North Korea’s relations with its neighbor that were “built at the cost of blood” and passed “the strictest test for its steadfastness.”
The Korean Central News Agency said Thursday that Russia’s ambassador to Pyongyang also attended the ceremony.
North Korea and Russia are strategic allies. The East Asian nation also donated weapons as well as some supplies 15,000 soldiers, According to South Korean estimates, to aid Russian war efforts against Ukraine. The Koreans fought mainly at Kursk, and successfully defeated the Ukrainian offensive on the Russian border area.
While Pyongyang has publicly acknowledged casualties of more than 100, South Korean lawmakers have claimed the figure to be closer to 600.
The British Defense Ministry has claimed that about 6,000 North Korean soldiers were killed. Of the 11,000 troops initially sent to Kursk, more than half were fighting against Ukraine.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Kim said that “a full year has passed since his country sent our fighters to the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, and what we have experienced so far has been more miraculous and meaningful than we expected”.
He said, “Our heroes destroyed the fiendish neo-Nazi invaders with their steadfast spirit of not tolerating any aggression but destroying the aggressors.” “The holy visit marked the beginning of a new history of militant solidarity between the DPRK and Russia.”
The memorial will reportedly include group sculptures, photographs, artefacts and war remains.
Mr Kim said his country’s partnership with Russia would “move forward without pause” as they came closer in the “flames of bloody battle”.
He said, “Pyongyang will always remain with Moscow. Our friendship and unity will always remain.” He said the relationship was “now reaching its historic peak”.
In June last year, North Korea and Russia formalized a “comprehensive strategic partnership” to deepen their ties. The treaty includes a mutual defense agreement that obliges both countries to assist each other in the event of armed attack.
The North Korean deployment at Kursk was not initially publicly acknowledged by Pyongyang or Moscow, even as Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence previously reported North Korean casualties.
Mr Kim hosted an emotional ceremony to pay tribute to troops sent to Russia in August. he was the one Pyongyang makes rare public acknowledgment of military casualties In a foreign conflict.
Mr Kim’s comments come as US President Donald Trump prepares to visit North Korea’s arch rival South Korea next week. Mr Trump is visiting the East Asian country after imposing new sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies in the latest effort to pressure Moscow into negotiating an end to the Ukraine war.