April 28 (UPI) — North Korea gave the first official confirmation Monday that its troops were fighting in the ranks of the Russian Army in its war against Ukraine.
The Central Military Commission said in a statement issued via the state-run KCNA news agency that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had ordered the troops be deployed in line with the country’s commitment to come to Russia’s aid under a mutual defense pact signed by Pyongyang and Moscow in June.
The statement claimed the North Korean contingent had aided the recapture of Kursk province from Ukrainian forces at the weekend, eight months after parts of the region were occupied following a counteroffensive by Kyiv.
It said the campaign had been “victoriously concluded” and that North Korea was “honoured to have an alliance with such a powerful state as the Russian Federation.”
“Comrade Kim Jong Un defined it as a sacred mission for further consolidating as firm as a rock the traditional friendship and solidarity between the DPRK and Russia,” it added.
“They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” said Kim, promising that a monument to their sacrifice would be erected in Pyongyang and that flowers would be placed on the tombs of those who fell in battle.
Kim also pledged “preferential treatment” and care for the families of troops who participated in the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday heaped praise on North Korea, Kim and units of the Korean People’s Army for their help in “liberating” the Kursk Region, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
“Our North Korean friends’ move was guided by a sense of solidarity, justice and genuine camaraderie. We highly appreciate this and are sincerely grateful, personally to the Chairman of the State Affairs Committee, Comrade Kim Jong-un, as well as to the entire leadership and the people of North Korea,” Putin said.
“We commend the North Korean soldiers’ heroism, their excellent training and dedication displayed while fighting, shoulder to shoulder with Russian soldiers, defending our Motherland as their own. They fulfilled their duty with honor and valor, covering themselves with unfading glory.”
Ukraine dismissed Russian claims that its forces had been routed in Kursk as propaganda, insisting the fighting was continuing in parts of the province.
No mention was made of the numbers of North Korean troops deployed or casualties sustained, but the acknowledgement from Pyongyang was the first time the secretive Marxist-Leninist state has admitted providing reinforcements for Russia’s war effort, despite United States, South Korea and Ukraine saying it had sent up to 12,000 troops to fight in Kursk in the fall.
South Korea, which claims about 4,000 of the North Koreans have been killed or injured, said the statement from Pyongyang was an effective admission of “its criminal behavior.”
“Our military strongly urges North Korea to immediately cease its deceitful and inhumane actions that threaten international peace and force the sacrifice of its residents through illegal military dispatches,” the South Korean National Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday.
The troop deployment provides much-needed 21st-century combat experience for North Korean forces, which have not fought a war in more than five decades, with the lack of modern battlefield smarts a major chink in its armor, according to experts.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed two Chinese citizens fighting in the Russian army had been taken prisoner.
Zelensky said the two Chinese fighters were detained in Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, which borders Russia. They were identified from documents, bank cards and personal information discovered on them when they were captured.
He said he believed the Kremlin’s ranks likely contained many more soldiers from the East Asian ally of Russia.
