The head of North Korea meets the families of soldiers killed in the Russian war

The head of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, met the families of soldiers killed by fighting for Russia against Ukraine and expressed his “deep condolences”, according to the state media.

During a special ceremony held on Friday, Kim was seen comforting bereaved families and presenting portraits of their loved ones wrapped in the North Korean flag.

South Korea thinks that the North sent some 15,000 soldiers to help the Russian war with Ukraine, as well as long -range missiles and weapons. In return, we think that North Korea has received food, money and technical aid.

North Korea only recognized its role in the foreign conflict in April, admitting that some of its soldiers had been killed.

In January, western officials told the BBC that they thought that at least 1,000 of the troops sent from North Korea had been killed in three months, with several thousand additional estimates, but the more recent estimates brought the figure closer to 600.

Friday’s ceremony was the second of its kind in a week. During the event, Kim said he was filled with “sorrow” not to bring the living soldiers back, committing to building a monument in their honor and taking care of their children.

“I thought a lot about the other families of martyrs who were not present (during the previous ceremony) … So, I arranged this meeting because I wanted to meet and console the bereaved families of all the heroes and relieve them of their sorrow and their even anguish a little,” said Kcna, “he said.

Kim is expected to meet Russia Vladimir Putin in China next week when he goes to attend a military parade marking Japan’s surrender during the Second World War.

It will be their third meeting in two years at a time when Moscow and Pyongyang deepen their cooperation and relations between the two countries have reached a new level.

Last October, Kim sent the Russian leader Vladimir Putin of birthday messages, calling him as close comrade.

The same month, Putin presented a bill to ratify a military pact he made with Kim, which promises that Russia and North Korea will help each other in the event of “assault” against one or the other country.

North Korea can have some 1.28 million active soldiers, but until the Ukrainian deployment, its army had no recent experience of combat operations abroad.