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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov have inaugurated a memorial and museum in Pyongyang dedicated to North Korean soldiers killed in the Ukraine conflict. The ceremony featured a statue unveiling, military jet flyovers, and the release of white balloons. While official casualty numbers are not public, South Korean intelligence estimates that at least 15,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to assist Russia, particularly in the Kursk region.
Seoul also estimates that about 2,000 North Koreans have died in the conflict - neither Pyongyang nor Russia have provided any official numbers.
In return for providing soldiers, it is believed North Korea has received food, money and technical help from Moscow.
The opening of the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at the Overseas Military Operations on Sunday coincided with what Russia described as the first anniversary of its recovery of parts of Kursk.
Ukraine launched a surprise incursion in Kursk in August 2024. Russia said it regained full control of the region a year later.
Kim assured Belousov that North Korea "will as ever fully support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests", according to state media.
Russia will "surely win a victory in the just sacred war", Kim said.
Belousov said he discussed long-term military co-operation with North Korean officials, according to Russian news agencies.
Aside from Belousov, Kim also met with the speaker of Russia's parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. During a meeting on the sidelines of China's military parade in Beijing last September, where both leaders came as guests, Putin thanked Kim for supporting Russia's war.
"Your soldiers fought courageously and heroically," Putin told Kim.
In June 2024, Putin and Kim signed a deal pledging that Russia and North Korea will help each other in the event of "aggression" against either country. At the time, Kim hailed the treaty as the "strongest ever".
