North Korea confirms troop deployment to Russia, hails 'heroes'

Seoul, South Korea - North Korea confirmed for the first time on Monday that it had sent troops to fight for Russia in the war in Ukraine under orders from leader Kim Jong Un and that it had helped regain control of Russian territory occupied by Ukraine.

The victorious end of the battle to liberate Russia's Kursk region showed the "highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship" between North Korea and Russia, KCNA state news agency cited the North's ruling party as saying.

Russia said last week that Ukrainian forces had been expelled from the last Russian village they had been holding, although Kyiv denied the claim and said their troops were still operating in some parts of Russian territory.

The Central Military Commission of the North's Workers' Party said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops under the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty he signed with Russian President Vladimir Putin last year.

Under Kim's orders, North Korean military units fought with the same heroism and bravery they would have shown if they were fighting for their own country, KCNA cited the Commission as saying.

"They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland," KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

North Korea "regards it as an honour to have an alliance with such a powerful state as the Russian Federation," KCNA said.

The U.S. State Department demanded North Korea's deployment to Russia and any support by Russia in return must end, adding Russia had violated U.N. Security Council resolutions by training North Korean soldiers.

Countries such as North Korea, whose support has "perpetuated the Russia-Ukraine war, bear responsibility," a State Department spokesperson told Reuters. 

South Korea said Monday's confirmation of the troop deployment was an "admission of criminal act," and condemned the North for the "inhumane and immoral" decision to send its young people to battle with the intention of propping up its regime.

'At the cost of blood'

The timing of the confirmation, after more than six months of silence, and highlighting the sacrifice of North Korean troops "at the cost of blood" was meant to amplify Kim's partnership with Putin as equals, an analyst said.

"It now became necessary to put on a diplomatic performance for the North Korean and Russian leaders to pledge stronger ties," Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul said, calling the confirmation "a build-up" to a summit meeting in Russia.

North Korea sent an estimated total of 14,000 troops, including 3,000 reinforcements to replace its losses, Ukrainian officials have said. Lacking armoured vehicles and drone warfare experience, they took heavy casualties but adapted quickly.

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said on April 24 that they had killed a unit of 25 North Korean soldiers in Kursk. They released a video showing one of the slain soldiers and their possessions, which included a note written in Korean.

North Korea has also supplied weapons including artillery munitions and ballistic missiles, South Korean officials have said.

Russia confirmed on Saturday for the first time that North Korean soldiers have been fighting alongside Russians in Kursk.

(Reporting by Jack Kim, Hyunsu Yim, Ju-min Park, Joyce Lee in Seoul and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler and Saad Sayeed)