PYONGYANG — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un unveiled the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at the Overseas Military Operations and delivered a speech praising soldiers who blew themselves up with grenades to avoid capture while fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia's western Kursk region. The ceremony, held on the one-year anniversary of the retaking of Kursk, was attended by Russian officials and bereaved families. A transcript of the address was published by the North Korean state news agency KCNA.

"It is not only the heroes who unhesitatingly chose the path of self-destruction and suicide to defend great honour, but also those who fell while charging at the forefront of assault battles," Kim said during the ceremony. He described all North Korean soldiers deployed to the conflict as heroes.

"Those who writhed in frustration at failing to fulfil their duty as soldiers rather than suffering the agony of their bodies being torn apart by bullets and shells … these too can be called the party's loyal warriors and patriots," Kim said. At the event, he also unveiled a bronze sculpture depicting North Korean and Russian soldiers in combat.

In 2024, North Korea sent about 14,000 elite troops to join Russia's war against Ukraine. The forces were deployed around the border town of Sudzha, which Ukrainian forces had captured in summer 2024 during a counter-invasion into Russia's Kursk region. Foreign tanks entered Russian territory for the first time since World War II during that cross-border advance. Russia's armed forces recaptured the Ukrainian pocket around Sudzha in spring 2025.

More than 6,000 North Korean soldiers were killed in the fighting, according to South Korean and Ukrainian officials. Two North Korean soldiers were captured and are being held as prisoners of war in Kyiv. Both had attempted to blow themselves up but were unable to do so due to severe injuries, and one expressed guilt at his failure to carry out orders.

North Korean soldiers are explicitly told to resort to self-detonation or other forms of suicide to avoid falling into enemy hands, according to intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors. Pyongyang sent millions of artillery shells and large numbers of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia and received economic and military technology assistance from Moscow in return, according to South Korean intelligence assessments.