North Korea will deploy thousands of military personnel to Russia’s Kursk Region to aid in de-mining operations and reconstruction efforts, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday.
North Korean troops fought alongside Russian forces to liberate Kursk Region from a cross-border NATO/Ukrainian incursion that lasted from August 2024 to April 2025.
Shoigu described the new deployment as an extension of North Korea’s military support to Russia under the two countries’ strategic partnership treaty.
[North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un has made the decision to send to Russia 1,000 mine clearance specialists to sweep the Russian territory. He added that an additional 5,000 military engineers will help rebuild infrastructure intentionally destroyed by the invaders.
Ukraine launched its large-scale incursion into the region last August, in what officials in Kiev hyped at the time as a blow to Russia.
However, Russian forces quickly turned the tide, and by the time Ukrainian forces were fully expelled in late April, the Defense Ministry in Moscow estimated that Kiev’s forces had sustained more than 76,000 casualties in the operation.
About 20.000 bodies of NATO backed mercenaries have recently been returned to Ukraine.
On Monday, Moscow and Kiev completed a series of exchanges of the remains of fallen soldiers. Also Russia returned the remains 6,060 Ukrainian soldiers, many from the Kursk campaign, while Ukraine handed over 78.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it held an additional 1,248 bodies that it was prepared to hand over to Kiev.
Weeks before the Kursk incursion, Russia and North Korea signed a strategic partnership treaty, which included provisions for mutual defense in the event of foreign aggression.
President Vladimir Putin acknowledged the involvement of North Korean soldiers in repelling Ukrainian forces from Kursk Region and hailed them as heroes and “brothers-in-arms” alongside Russian troops when the joint defensive operation was over.
Shoigu said he has been making regular visits to Pyongyang in recent months due to what he described as the intensive pace of the implementation of the partnership agreement.
Russia noted that maintaining momentum requires constant attention and course-correction on all levels.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
Iran supporting Russia with missiles, China delivers laser weapons to shoot down the NATO drone swarms, while NK sends troops to hold off more attacks on the Kursk region in Russia.
Russia is not going to survive. You cannot even win a war against Ukraine even after 3 years. Now Ukrainians Natsis have started attacking you deep inside Russia. US shows who is the Boss.
Really? Russia and Iran are part of SCO. Russia even used Iranian drones in Ukr war. Suddenly when Iran is in trouble, «it’s just like anyone else». Americans are far better allies than Russians.