North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has publicly confirmed that North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine were expected to kill themselves rather than be captured, Bloomberg reported.
Kim praised troops who chose “self-blasting” during a memorial event in Pyongyang for North Korean soldiers killed in the war, presenting them as “heroes who defended the country’s honor.”
The remarks appeared to confirm long-standing reports from Ukrainian, South Korean and Western officials that North Korean troops sent to Russia had orders to avoid capture at all costs, including by suicide.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that North Korea opened a new memorial in Pyongyang on April 26 for soldiers killed in the Ukraine war. The site includes graves for about 280 soldiers, though South Korean intelligence estimates around 2,000 North Korean troops died during the campaign to push Ukrainian forces out of Russia’s Kursk region.
North Korea had previously commemorated only 101 soldiers killed in the campaign. Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has released official casualty figures.
North Korea sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 troops to Russia between late 2024 and June 2025. Moscow and Pyongyang initially denied that North Korean troops were fighting Ukrainian forces, but acknowledged their presence in April 2025.
At the memorial opening, Kim described the campaign as “a new history of friendship between Korea and Russia written in blood.” Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Kim a letter calling the site a symbol of unity between Russia and North Korea.
In exchange for sending troops, Pyongyang is believed to have received cash, food and technical assistance, RFE/RL reported.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said thousands of North Korean troops remained in Russia as of February. Only two North Korean soldiers have been captured alive by Ukraine, and both are being held in the country
