The leader of the North Korean regime, Kim Jong-unsent a New Year’s message highlighting the work of the country’s troops stationed “in a foreign land,” alluding to the more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to fight alongside Russia in the war against Ukraineaccording to estimates from South Korean and Western sources.
“While the entire country is enveloped in a festive atmosphere to welcome the New Year, I miss even more those who fight bravely on the battlefields of foreign countries during this period and remain loyal to the commands of their homeland,” the dictator said, according to the official agency. KCNA.
Without mentioning Ukraine directly, Jong-un He expected “remarkable achievements” by North Korean soldiers abroad in the coming year. North Korea’s leader attended a grand ceremony at Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium, where he called for strengthening the “Friendship and the invincible alliance” between his country and Russia, in relation to the Strategic partnership agreement fully signed with the Russian President, Vladimir Putinin June 2024, which provides for a commitment to mutual defense.
According to reports from South Korean intelligence and international media, the operation includes not only combat personnel, but also engineers and military technicians.
The regime’s top authority also praised citizens’ patriotism before the 9th Party Congressscheduled for January or February, where the national strategy for the next five years will be set.
Attention now turns to whether Pyongyang will officially adopt the stance of viewing South Korea as an “enemy state” at the end of 2023, in line with Kim’s comments. Meanwhile, the regime continues to reject dialogue with Seoul despite the new government’s conciliatory tone Lee Jae-myungand ignored the American president’s suggestion Donald Trump for a bilateral summit at the end of October last year.
Experts point out that strengthening the relationship between North Korea And Russia represented an economic lifeline for the regime Kim Jong-un and has allowed him to reject dialogue initiatives with the United States and South Korea.
“Operations in Russia as well as military operations abroad or cooperation in general are no longer an exceptionbut they have become part of the official defense policy,” he told the AFP Lim Eul-chulProfessor at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University.
According to Eul-chul, North Korean state media coverage allows Kim to portray the economic and military benefits of these operations as nationalist achievements to domestic public opinion.
However, local sources report an unfavorable reality for the North Korean troops involved in the Ukraine conflict. According to South Korean intelligence and statements from two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces, Pyongyang troops are ordered to commit suicide rather than surrender.
These two soldiers, held by Kiev since January 2025 after being injured in combat, have expressed their intention to defect and seek refuge in South Korea.
It is worth mentioning that it was broadcast on state television last August North Korea surprised by the broadcast of a documentary film dealing with the involvement of North Korean soldiers in the Russian invasion Ukraineeven shows battle casualties.
On this occasion, the regime did not hide the deaths of young soldiers at the front: the production told the story of two recruits, Yun Jong-hyuk (20) and Woo Wi-hyuk (19), who, seeing themselves surrounded, decided to detonate a grenade and commit suicide before being captured. According to the South Korean agency, the narrative portrayed their deaths as “heroic sacrifices,” in a mise-en-scène full of epic connotations. Yonhap.
Experts quoted by DW They point out that the North Korean media operates under absolute state control, giving the population no space to access alternative versions or contrast official information. “This is what North Korea is doing: ideological indoctrination to train both current soldiers and the next generation,” he explained. Min Seong-jaeProfessor of Communication at Pace University in New York.
(With information from EFE and AFP)
About The Author
