THE nation’s leader Kim Jong-un attended a welcoming ceremony for an army engineering unit that had returned home after carrying out duties in Russia, the North’s KCNA news agency reported.
In a speech carried by KCNA, Kim praised officers and soldiers of the 528th Regiment of Engineers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) for “heroic” conduct and “mass heroism” in fulfilling orders issued by the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea during a 120-day overseas deployment.
Video footage released showed uniformed soldiers disembarking from an aircraft, Kim hugging a soldier seated in a wheelchair, and soldiers and officials gathering to welcome the troops.
KCNA said the unit had been dispatched in early August and carried out combat and engineering tasks in the Kursk region of Russia during Moscow’s war with Ukraine.
Last month, Russia’s Defence Ministry said North Korean troops who helped Russia repel a major Ukrainian incursion into its western Kursk region are now playing an important role in clearing the area of mines.
Under a mutual defence pact between the two countries, North Korea last year sent some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Kursk, and more than 6,000 were killed, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and Western sources.
Kim said nine soldiers were killed during the mission, describing their deaths as a “heart- rending loss”, and announced that the regiment would be awarded the Order of Freedom and Independence.
The nine fallen soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, along with other state honours, KCNA said. — Reuters
