Kim Jong Un admits North Korean troops cleared mines in Russia’s Kursk region

North Korea admits troops cleared mines in Russia

North Korea sent troops earlier this year to carry out mine-clearing operations in Russia’s Kursk region, leader Kim Jong Un has said, a rare public acknowledgement by Pyongyang that its deployed soldiers were assigned such dangerous tasks.

AFP cited South Korean and Western intelligence agencies as saying that North Korea has dispatched thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.

According to analysts quoted by the news agency, Moscow is providing North Korea with financial assistance, military technology, food and energy supplies in return. This support has helped the diplomatically isolated country circumvent strict international sanctions imposed over its nuclear and missile programmes.

In a speech broadcast by state media on Saturday, Kim praised the return of an engineering regiment and said the soldiers had written “letters to their hometowns and villages at breaks of the mine-clearing hours”.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim as saying that nine members of the regiment died during the 120-day deployment, which began in August. He said the fallen soldiers were awarded state honours to “add eternal lustre” to their bravery.

“All of you, both officers and soldiers, displayed mass heroism overcoming unimaginable mental and physical burdens almost every day,” Kim said.

He added that the troops had managed to “work a miracle of turning a vast area of danger zone into a safe and secure one in a matter of less than three months”.

Images released by KCNA showed a smiling Kim embracing returning soldiers at a ceremony in Pyongyang on Friday, AFP reported. Some of the troops appeared injured, with several seen in wheelchairs.

The North Korean leader also referred to the “pain of waiting for one hundred and twenty days in which he had never forgotten the beloved sons even for a moment.”