LONDON — North Korean authorities confirmed for the primary time that the nation’s forces fought against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk area, with state media claiming “victory” there and describing the North Korean troopers concerned as “heroic.”
The official acknowledgment got here as Russian President Vladimir Putin additionally praised North Korean troops for his or her contribution within the theater, saying in an announcement posted to the Kremlin web site that Moscow’s “Korean mates” fought “with honor and valor, protecting themselves with unfading glory.”
“The Russian individuals will always remember the feat of the Korean particular forces,” Putin added. “We’ll at all times honor the Korean heroes who gave their lives for Russia, for our widespread freedom, on an equal foundation with their Russian brothers in arms.”
In an announcement carried by the state-run Korean Central Information Company, North Korea’s Central Army Fee confirmed Monday its troops took half within the Russian operation to eject Ukrainian models from Kursk.
On this picture comprised of a video distributed by the Russian Protection Ministry Press Service on March 14, 2025, Russian troopers journey on a self-propelled gun in Russia’s Kursk area.
AP
Combating erupted there after Kyiv’s forces entered the border area in a shock offensive in August 2024. It was the most important Ukrainian operation on Russian territory since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The army fee lauded North Korean models combating in Kursk for “performing heroic feats within the operations to repulse and frustrate the grave sovereignty infringement by the Ukrainian authorities.”
This weekend, high Russian commander Valery Gerasimov stated Russia had absolutely liberated Kursk after months of intensifying assaults on remaining Ukrainian positions there. Gerasimov praised North Korea models for “important help.”
The North Korean committee stated the involvement of its troopers — which based on numerous U.S., Ukrainian and South Korean help concerned a minimum of 10,000 troops — “absolutely demonstrated their excessive combating spirit and army temperament,” with “mass heroism, matchless bravery and self-sacrificing spirit.”
In an announcement carried by KCNA, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un stated fighters in Kursk have been “heroes” who “fought for justice.” A monument to the Kursk contingent could be erected in Pyongyang, Kim added.
“The motherland ought to hand down ceaselessly the soul of the troopers who fought to defend its nice honour and take vital state measures to specifically and preferentially deal with and maintain the households of the courageous troopers who participated within the battle,” Kim continued.
North Korean models getting into the combating in Kursk rapidly sustained casualties, based on estimates by Ukraine-aligned governments.
British intelligence assessed that by March roughly 5,000 North Korean troops deployed to struggle Ukraine had been killed or wounded, with a 3rd probably killed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the Chief of Basic Workers Gen. Valery Gerasimov’s with report on combating within the Kursk area throughout a videoconference name in Moscow, Russia, on April 26, 2025.
Alexander Kazakov/AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kyrylo Budanov — the top of Ukraine’s army intelligence — each stated in February that North Korean troops had suffered about 4,000 casualties.
South Korea’s Nationwide Intelligence Service stated in March that North Korean forces had suffered round 5,000 casualties, based on the Yonhap information company, South Korea’s state media.
ABC Information’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
