North Korea has for the first time confirmed the deployment of its troops to fight alongside Russia in the war against Ukraine. According to a statement released by the state news agency KCNA, the deployment was ordered by Kim Jong Un as part of the mutual defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow.
North Korean forces participated in the operation to “liberate” Russia’s Kursk region, which was “victoriously concluded,” KCNA reported, as quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
The KCNA statement emphasized that Kim personally made the decision to send troops to Russia and “informed the Russian side of it.” Kim described the soldiers sent to Russia as “heroes” carrying out a “sacred mission,” according to the statement.
Previously, North Korean authorities had not acknowledged that their troops were fighting alongside Russian forces. Russian officials had also not formally confirmed it. However, in mid-April, a court in Blagoveshchensk, Russia, banned reports in Telegram channels about captured North Korean soldiers, labeling such reports as “information concerning the personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” On April 26, Russian Army General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov, announcing the completion of the operation to liberate the Kursk region, thanked North Korean soldiers, noting that they fought “shoulder to shoulder” with Russian troops.
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