Kim Jong Un: The death of our soldiers in Russia is an “eternal cornerstone”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called soldiers killed in Russia's war against Ukraine an “eternal cornerstone” for Pyongyang, state media reported on Tuesday, reporting on Kim's visit to the construction site of a museum commemorating North Korean servicemen.

According to the official KCNA news agency, Kim visited the construction site of the Foreign Military Operations Memorial Museum on Monday. He was accompanied by his wife Ri Sol Dzu and daughter Dzu Ae. The published photos show the leader and his daughter symbolically planting the first tree in the complex. Another photo shows Kim at the controls of a forklift.

The leader said the sacrifice of servicemen who died fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine would be like a “solid root and eternal cornerstone supporting the power” of North Korea.

This is the first time in history that North Korea is building a museum dedicated exclusively to soldiers killed in battles outside the country. The plan to create a memorial site in Pyongyang was announced in August last year, during a ceremony awarding decorations to servicemen sent to the front. Construction of the facility officially started in October.

As part of the mutual defense pact with Russia in 2024, North Korea sent approximately 14,000. soldiers to fight alongside Russian troops in the Kursk Oblast in western Russia, where, according to the estimates of the intelligence services of South Korea, Ukraine and Western countries, approximately 6,000 died. of them. As South Korea's Yonhap agency notes, the regime in Pyongyang is trying to present their deaths as a heroic act of patriotism.

Krzysztof Pawliszak (PAP)

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