North Korea sent troops to clear mines in Russia\u2019s Kursk region earlier this year, leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech carried on Saturday by state media, a rare acknowledgement by Pyongyang of the deadly tasks assigned to its deployed soldiers.<\/p>\n
According to South Korean and western intelligence agencies, North Korea has sent thousands of troops<\/a> to support Russia\u2019s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n Analysts say Russia<\/a> is giving North Korea financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies in return, allowing the diplomatically isolated nation to sidestep tough international sanctions on its nuclear and missile programmes.<\/p>\n Hailing the return of an engineering regiment, Kim noted that they wrote \u201cletters to their hometowns and villages at breaks of the mine-clearing hours\u201d, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).<\/p>\n Nine members of the regiment died during the 120-day deployment that started in August, Kim said in his speech at a welcome ceremony on Friday, KCNA reported.<\/p>\n Kim Jong-un at the podium of the welcoming ceremony in front of the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang. Photograph: KCNA via KNS\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n He awarded the deceased state honours to \u201cadd eternal lustre\u201d to their bravery.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of you, both officers and soldiers, displayed mass heroism overcoming unimaginable mental and physical burdens almost every day,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n The troops had been able to \u201cwork a miracle of turning a vast area of danger zone into a safe and secure one in a matter of less than three months\u201d.<\/p>\n Images released by KCNA showed a smiling Kim embracing returned soldiers, some of whom appeared injured and in wheelchairs, at the ceremony in Pyongyang on Friday.<\/p>\n The North Korean leader with returning soldiers from the engineering regiment in an image released by the official Korean Central News Agency. Photograph: KCNA via KNS\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n One of them looked visibly emotional as Kim held his head and hand while he sat in a wheelchair in a military uniform.<\/p>\n Other images showed Kim consoling families of the deceased and kneeling before a portrait of a fallen soldier to pay his respects, placing what appeared to be medals and flowers beside images of the dead.<\/p>\n Kim meeting the families of soldiers who were killed. Photograph: KCNA via KNS\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The North Korean leader also mentioned the \u201cpain of waiting for 120 days in which he had never forgotten the beloved sons even for a moment\u201d.<\/p>\n