North Korean leader Kim Jong says troops have been sent to help Russia “annihilate” Ukrainian troops under a military agreement with Moscow.
North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it had sent troops to Russia to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine and that its troops have helped reclaim the Russian territory held by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
In a statement provided to North Korea’s official South Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday, the Central Military Committee of the Controlling Workers’ Party said that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un had dispatched troops alongside Russian troops as part of the mutual defense treaty between Moscow and Pyongyang.
The KCNA quoted Kim saying that the soldiers were deployed to “annihilate and wipe out Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupations and work with the Russian army to liberate the Kursk region.”
“They all who fought for justice are heroes and representatives of the honor of the homeland,” Kcna quoted Kim as saying.
North Korea “sees honor as alliances with a powerful nation like the Russian Federation,” KCNA said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty last June, contracting them to ensure that both countries militarily seek each other’s support during the war.
According to South Korea’s official Yonghap News Agency, Kim also said a memorial will soon be erected in the capital, Pyongyang, to honor those who fought against Ukraine.
“The flowers praying for immortality are placed in front of the tombstones of fallen soldiers, effectively acknowledging the troops killed in the battle,” Yonghap reported, saying North Korea had previously remained silent about the thousands of soldiers it had sent to Russia in October.
Ukrainian officials said about 14,000 North Koreans had been deployed against their forces earlier this year, including 3,000 reinforcements sent to replace North Korea’s early battlefield losses.
With a shortage of armored vehicles and unfamiliar with drone warfare, North Korea was seriously injured early in the battle, but reportedly adapted quickly, helping to recover the Russian Kursk region from the Ukrainian occupation.
Estimates of the casualty rates for North Korean troops fighting for Russia were very different.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency (NIS) said in January that around 300 North Korean soldiers were killed in the battle, and another 2,700 were injured.
Ukrainian President Voldimia Zelenkie put the number of North Koreans killed or injured at 4,000, while the US estimated a low figure of around 1,200 casualties.
The North Korean statement, following Russia’s chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, praised the “heroes” of North Korean soldiers on Saturday, saying they “provided important support in defeating the Ukrainian military groups.”
Ukrainian general staff immediately rebutted, saying that defensive operations in certain areas of Kursk are continuing.
The US State Department said in a statement Sunday evening that North Korea and other “third countries” must “perpetuate” Russia’s war of Ukraine and end it.
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