Footage aired on state media Monday showed dictator Kim Jong Un getting emotional as he mourned over the coffin of North Korean troops reportedly killed while fighting for Russia in its war with Ukraine.
The footage, released by Korean Central Television and reported by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, showed Kim placing a North Korean flag on a casket.
The images aired as part of a cultural performance Sunday at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater, held to mark the one-year anniversary of North Korea’s “comprehensive strategic partnership” treaty with Moscow.
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Kim, joined by Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, was shown standing beside the coffin, hands pressed on it and lips tightly closed.
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Yonhap reported that other images in the broadcast included photos of North Korean soldiers alongside Russian troops, as well as a bloodstained notebook allegedly recovered from the battlefield in Russia’s Kursk region.
The notebook reportedly contained a message that read, “The decisive moment has finally come,” and, “Let us bravely fight this sacred battle with the boundless love and trust bestowed upon us by our beloved Supreme Commander,” referring to Kim.
Also present at the ceremony was Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, who was shown wiping away tears, according to Yonhap. Others in the audience were seen doing the same.
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Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told Yonhap the images appear designed to shape a “victory narrative” following joint operations in Ukraine.
