North Korea celebrates soldiers serving in Kursk with official state award ceremony

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has decorated soldiers of the Korean People’s Army who served alongside Russian forces in the country’s southwestern Kursk region, KCNA, North Korea’s state-owned news agency, reported on Friday.

In a special banquet ceremony held at the Workers’ Party of Korea headquarters, Kim praised the “victorious conclusion” of the soldiers’ “overseas military operations”, and extended his gratitude to them for “bravely fighting” as befits Koreans, KCNA reported.

Kim also honoured North Korean soldiers who were killed in combat, and met with bereaved families to offer condolences, the agency wrote.

According to The Wall Street Journal, North Korea’s top military officers had been abruptly called home in order to attend the ceremony. It is not known whether they will be redeployed for future combat in Russian border regions or in Ukraine.

According to data cited by BBC News Russian, as of January of this year, North Korea had sent about 11,000 troops to help Russia, of which some 1,000 had been killed.

In April, Moscow and Pyongyang first confirmed that North Korean troops had fought “shoulder to shoulder” alongside Russian servicemen as they recaptured the Kursk region from Ukrainian forces, parts of which Kyiv had held since its ground invasion of the region in August 2024.

Throughout the summer, Western intelligence agencies made several pronouncements about the possibility of Pyongyang expanding its military involvement in the war in Ukraine.

In late June, South Korea’s top intelligence body delivered a closed-door parliamentary briefing that suggested Pyongyang was ready to send over 6,000 troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine, to be deployed as early as July.

One week later, Ukrainian officials cited by CNN estimated that North Korea was set to triple its troop presence in Russia and Ukraine, sending a further 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers to the frontline.

That month, Russia’s lower house of parliament ratified a comprehensive partnership treaty with Pyongyang, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, includes a secret clause permitting North Korea to send troops to the war in Ukraine.