Kim Jong Un praises soldier suicides, signals deepening role in Russia’s war

It was a striking and unusually explicit acknowledgment of Pyongyang’s long-suspected battlefield doctrine.

According to a transcript published by North Korean state media KCNA, Kim stated that those who “unhesitatingly chose self-destruction” and suicide bombings had shown the highest form of loyalty.

A reference to soldiers throwing themselves at grenades or detonating explosives rather than risk capture.

Kim made the comments at the opening of a huge new memorial complex on the outskirts of the capital, walking past rows of newly laid graves before kneeling to place soil in an open cemetery.

Inside, bronze sculptures and black marble walls with names etched in them surround displays of soldiers’ remains, personal relics and captured military equipment.

The site, part cemetery and part museum, is the centerpiece of a broader campaign to portray the deaths of North Korean soldiers in Russia’s war against its neighbor as acts of heroism and patriotic sacrifice.

For months, North Korean state media have provided vivid and often harrowing accounts of how these soldiers died.

Previous reporting has described troops detonating grenades while surrounded, shouting at comrades to stay back before setting off the explosion, or committing suicide after being wounded to avoid capture.

In one story, soldiers hugged each other before detonating explosives.

For years, intelligence agencies, Ukrainian officials and defectors have reported that North Korean soldiers were expected to commit suicide rather than be captured.

The monument provides one of the clearest indications yet of the extent of North Korea’s involvement in the Russian war.

Analysis by NK News found that two black marble walls within the complex contain 2,288 names of soldiers believed to have died in the battle, in addition to 271 graves and more than 1,700 compartments for cremated remains.

The complex has extensive walls and space for future graves, suggesting that this is not a closed chapter.

South Korean and Western officials estimate that more than 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, killing or wounding thousands, losses that North Korea has so far not so openly acknowledged.

A small number of North Korean soldiers are known to have been captured alive by Ukrainian forces.

Some have said that they did not know they would be sent into battle until shortly before their deployment, and at least one of them expressed regret, not for being captured, but for failing to commit suicide.

Their existence poses a problem for Pyongyang. Under international law, prisoners of war are usually repatriated at the end of hostilities.

However, human rights advocates warn that their return to North Korea could expose them to severe punishment.

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