Kim Jong-un has publicly confirmed that North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region were ordered to blow themselves up rather than be taken prisoner, a grisly battlefield doctrine that Ukrainian intelligence had reported for months. Speaking at the inauguration of a vast memorial complex in Pyongyang on April 26, the North Korean leader praised his troops as “heroes” who “chose without hesitation the path of self-detonation and self-death” to preserve their honour. The ceremony, which included a burial of remains and the unveiling of a bronze statue depicting North Korean and Russian soldiers together, was attended by Russia’s defence minister, Andrei Belousov, and the speaker of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin — a clear signal of the deepening military alliance between the two capitals.

The scale of North Korean losses has become starkly visible. The memorial’s marble columns bear the names of at least 2,288 fallen soldiers, according to the specialist outlet NK Pro, though South Korean and Ukrainian officials estimate the true death toll exceeds 6,000 out of roughly 14,000 elite troops dispatched to Russia since late 2024. Most were deployed to the disputed border town of Sudzha, which Ukrainian forces had seized in a surprise counter-invasion. Viewed from Seoul, these numbers represent a staggering sacrifice for a regime that trades human lives for the hard currency, energy, food, and military technology it desperately needs to survive under international sanctions.

Analysts in London note that the public celebration of suicide tactics, while consistent with the Kim family’s cult of martyrdom, also serves to legitimise a war of aggression abroad. For Moscow, the alliance provides not only combat manpower but also a propaganda win: the joint memorial recasts Russia’s invasion as a shared anti-fascist crusade, with Putin himself having framed the Kursk campaign as a liberation of Russian soil. Washington views this partnership with growing alarm, as it consolidates a Eurasian axis that challenges Western security architecture and supplies North Korea with technical insights into drones, missile systems, and nuclear capabilities.

Looking ahead, the entrenchment of this military pact portends a more protracted conflict. North Korean forces are likely to remain in Russia as a permanent expeditionary corps, while Pyongyang will extract ever more advanced technology in return. The memorial in Pyongyang is not a monument to peace but a statement of intent — a dynastic regime and a revisionist power binding their fates in a war that shows no sign of ending.