Kim Jong Un publicly acknowledged for the first time the losses of North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region: nine killed

This was reported by Reuters.

Kim Jong Un attended a welcoming ceremony for an army engineering unit that returned home after completing missions in Russia.

In video footage released by North Korea, soldiers in uniform are seen disembarking from a plane, Kim embraces a soldier seated in a wheelchair, and soldiers and officials are shown gathered to welcome the unit.

According to media reports, this unit carried out combat and engineering tasks in Russia’s Kursk region, where it was deployed in early August. The Russian Ministry of Defence had previously reported that North Korean troops are currently playing a significant role in demining the territory.

Background. Under a mutual defence agreement between the two countries, North Korea sent around 14,000 soldiers last year to participate in combat operations alongside Russia in the Kursk region. According to South Korean, Ukrainian, and Western sources, over 6,000 of them were killed.

In contrast, Kim Jong Un stated that nine soldiers were killed during the mission, calling their deaths a "terrible loss" and announcing that the regiment would be awarded the Order of Freedom and Independence.

The fallen soldiers were also posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, along with other state honors.