North Korean leader Kim Jong Un publicly lauded soldiers who committed suicide while engaged in combat in Russia's Kursk region, confirming an extreme battlefield practice among the forces Pyongyang deployed there. A transcript published by North Korean state media KCNA on Monday records Kim making the remarks at a ceremony marking the completion of a memorial honoring North Korean soldiers, where he addressed Russian officials and bereaved families.
North Korea is estimated to have sent about 14,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region. South Korean, Ukrainian and Western officials have reported that the contingent suffered heavy casualties, with more than 6,000 North Korean soldiers killed in the fighting.
Mounting evidence has pointed to instances in which North Korean fighters avoided capture by taking their own lives. That evidence includes intelligence reports and testimonies from defectors, which describe cases of self-detonation or other means of suicide rather than surrender.
Kim addressed those incidents directly in his remarks, praising the individuals involved. "It is not only the heroes who unhesitatingly chose the path of self-destruction and suicide to defend great honor, but also those who fell while charging at the forefront of assault battles," he said, according to the KCNA transcript. He also described surviving fighters in patriotic terms.
"Those who writhed in frustration at failing to fulfil their duty as soldiers rather than suffering the agony of their bodies being torn apart by bullets and shells - these too can be called the party's loyal warriors and patriots," Kim said in the speech.
South Korean intelligence assessments indicate that Pyongyang's deployment of troops and supply of munitions to Russia were reciprocated with economic and military technology assistance from Moscow. The assessments form part of the broader reporting on the deployment and its consequences.
The remarks represent the first time Kim has explicitly acknowledged the lengths to which some North Korean soldiers went to avoid capture in that theatre of operations. His comments were delivered in the context of a formal ceremony commemorating the service of North Korean personnel and were framed as praise for both the killed and the survivors.