Kim Jong-un Appears to Mourn His Troops Killed Fighting for Russia

It was a sight unlike any most North Koreans had probably ever seen: their nation’s leader, Kim Jong-un, looking somber and leaning over a coffin draped in their flag. The moment, as shown on state television, showed the remembrance of troops killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine, a conflict in which Mr. Kim tried to parlay their sacrifices into expanding military ties with Moscow.

The event, which Mr. Kim and his teenage daughter and potential successor, Kim Ju-ae, attended on Sunday with a Russian delegation, featured Russian and North Korean art performances in Pyongyang.​ Both governments organized events to celebrate the first anniversary of a treaty of mutual defense and cooperation that Mr. Kim signed with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

It was also an occasion for Mr. Kim to highlight the contributions North Korea has made to Russia’s war against Ukraine​ by showing his people, for the first time, images of North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces.

North Korea ​has sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 North Korean troops, as well as large shipments of artillery shells, missiles and other weapons, to aid Russia​’s war efforts​, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and U.S. officials. ​North Korean troops were believed to have suffered 4,700 casualties, including 600 deaths, South Korean intelligence officials told Parliament in April.

North Korea formally confirmed its troops’ deployment and casualties in April when it promised​ a monument in their honor in Pyongyang,​ and flowers adorning “the tombstones of the fallen soldiers​.”

But it was not until Monday that the North’s state television aired footage to the ​wider public of its soldiers fighting in Russia’s war and the arrival of caskets containing ​those who were killed. The ​images flashed ​in the backdrop of the stage as a female singer sang​ “the heroes will live on in our hearts forever.”