North Korean leader admits to sending troops to Russia’s Kursk region to carry out this ‘difficult’ mission

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country had sent troops to Russia’s Kursk region this year to clear mines, in a rare acknowledgment by Pyongyang of the dangerous tasks assigned to its forces there.

Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to fight alongside Moscow, which has been pushing ahead with its nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

Analysts say Russia is providing North Korea with financial, technological, food and energy aid that would allow the isolated country to bypass international sanctions.

Kim praised the return of an engineering regiment from Kursk, noting that soldiers were writing “letters to their towns and villages during breaks from demining operations,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The regiment suffered a “tragic loss of nine lives” during the 120-day deployment period that began in August, Kim said in a speech at a reception for soldiers returning from Russia on Friday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The north Korean leader awarded the departed soldiers state decorations to give an eternal sparkle to their bravery.

“All of you, officers and soldiers, have shown collective heroism in overcoming unimaginable mental and physical burdens almost every day,” he said.

He credited the miracle with “transforming a large area of danger into a safe zone in less than three months”.

North Korea confirmed only in April that it had deployed troops in support of Russia and that it had lost soldiers in the fighting.

Photos posted by the Korean Central News Agency showed Kim smiling and hugging returning soldiers, some in wheelchairs, at the large ceremony held in Pyongyang on Friday.