A sorrowful Kim Jong-un, with tears in his eyes, squats down to embrace an orphaned girl whose father, a North Korean soldier, died fighting for Vladimir Putin's Russia. Several images like this, released on Friday by North Korean state media, show the supreme leader embracing more grieving family members and soldiers who have fought against Ukrainian troops on the front lines in the Russian region of Kursk.
This is not the first time North Korean propaganda has shown a dictator's public tears. Kim presided over a ceremony on Thursday honoring the troops sent to war against Ukraine.
"My heart aches and I feel bitter facing the reality that I can only know the noble figures who gave their precious lives for the great victory and glory through photos on the memorial wall," Kim said in a speech that was made public today by the state news agency KCNA.
"In front of the families of the fallen soldiers, I don't know how to express my sorrow and apologies for not being able to protect our dear children, who were entrusted to the nation," he continued. The president met with the commanders of the North Korean army unit sent to Kursk and praised the soldiers who died in combat as "heroic." In April, estimates from South Korea's intelligence agency suggested that around 600 North Korean soldiers had died in the war.
The published photos show Kim placing badges on frames with photos of the deceased soldiers and others on the uniforms of soldiers who returned from the war. A grand concert and banquet were then held in honor of the returning troops. "The combat activities of the operational forces abroad demonstrated without remorse the power of the heroic army," Kim also said in his speech.
This highly publicized event in Pyongyang contrasts with the extreme secrecy maintained by the North Korean regime when the first reports of troops being sent to Russia emerged, with spokespeople from the Asian country even denying that this was true.
The solemn ceremony comes a week after Kim received a call from Putin. During the conversation, the Russian leader "praised the courage and heroism of the North Korean soldiers in reclaiming the Russian region of Kursk," and conveyed to his North Korean counterpart that he "greatly appreciated" North Korea's support and the "spirit of self-sacrifice" shown by its soldiers.
Under the mutual defense agreement signed in June 2024 between Putin and Kim, the North Korean regime transferred over 11,000 soldiers to fight on the Kursk front. According to a new intelligence assessment from South Korea earlier this summer, the North is preparing to triple the number of soldiers fighting for Moscow: between 25,000 and 30,000 additional troops who will arrive in Russia in the coming months.
The August call between the two leaders reaffirmed the strong military alliance they maintain. During the summer, Kim hosted several high-ranking officials from Putin's government in his country, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to whom he promised to continue his "unconditional support" to Russia. Pyongyang will continue to supply troops and ammunition to Moscow in exchange for economic assistance and military technology for the development of nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
A few days ago, in a letter from Putin to Kim commemorating the anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule in August 1945, the Russian leader once again described the North Korean troops as "heroic" and recalled how Soviet and North Korean forces had also fought together to end the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula. "The bonds of militant friendship and mutual aid remain strong to this day," Putin stated in the letter.