Pyongyang [North Korea], August 30: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has promised to ensure "a good life" for the families of soldiers who died fighting for Russia in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the KCNA news agency reported on August 30.
On August 29, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un received the families of the soldiers and expressed "grief for not being able to save the precious lives" of those who fell, sacrificing their lives to protect the country's honor, according to KCNA.
Mr Kim told the relatives of the fallen soldiers that the heroic feats the soldiers had achieved were thanks to the strength and courage of their families, who were "the most resilient, patriotic and fair people in the world".
He stressed that the country will "give people a good life on the land protected by the lives of martyrs".
The meeting was the latest tribute to soldiers killed in action in Russia's Kursk province , which borders Ukraine, after Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed in April that Pyongyang had deployed troops to Kursk after months of silence, according to Reuters.
Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has publicly disclosed the scale of the deployment or the number of casualties among North Korean troops . Meanwhile, South Korea's intelligence agency estimates that about 600 of the 15,000 North Korean troops deployed to Russia have died. Western intelligence estimates that there have been more than 6,000 casualties, according to Reuters.
Mr Kim is expected to join Mr Putin in a military parade in China next week to mark the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. This will be the third meeting between the two leaders in the past two years, according to Reuters.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
