Putin thanks North Korean troops for support
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday thanked North Korean troops for their involvement in fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region, after North Korea confirmed for the first time that it was sending troops.
In a statement issued by the Kremlin, Putin praised the heroism and dedication of North Korean fighters: “Shoulder to shoulder with Russian fighters, they defended our Motherland as if it were their own,” he said.
North Korea confirmed on Monday, for the first time, the sending of troops to Russia, to support the offensive against Ukraine , under the strategic partnership treaty signed with Moscow in June 2024.
North Korea's state news agency KCNA revealed that "subunits of the armed forces" of the country "took part in the operations to liberate the occupied areas of Kursk", following a direct order from leader Kim Jong-un.
According to KCNA, the soldiers' war effort "has been victoriously concluded."
On Saturday, Russia announced that its troops had fully recaptured the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last year. Ukrainian authorities denied the claim.
Intelligence officials from the United States, South Korea and Ukraine said North Korea sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia last fall, its first major armed conflict since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. However, North Korea only confirmed the deployment on Monday.
The strategic partnership treaty between North Korea and Russia — considered the largest defense agreement between the two countries since the end of the Cold War — requires both nations to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.
The KCNA statement quoted Kim Jong-un as saying the deployment was aimed at “annihilating and eliminating the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberating the Kursk region in cooperation with the Russian armed forces.”
The North Korean leader also announced that a monument will soon be erected in Pyongyang to mark North Korea's battle exploits and that flowers will be laid on the tombstones of fallen soldiers.
The North Korean statement did not specify how many troops North Korea had sent or how many had died. But in March, the South Korean military said about 4,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded on the front lines of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
At the same time, the South Korean military also said that North Korea had sent about 3,000 additional troops to Russia earlier this year.
North Korea to withdraw its troops from Russia, saying Russia's support for its invasion of Ukraine represents a grave provocation to international security.
Spokesman Koo Byoungsam said the North Korean troop deployment was an “act against humanity” that sacrificed young soldiers in the name of his government.
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