North Korea opens memorial museum honouring troops killed in Ukraine

North Korea has opened a memorial museum for its soldiers killed while fighting for Russia against Ukraine, with top leaders of North Korea and Russia pledging a push for greater cooperation.

In April 2025, North Korea and Russia announced that their soldiers fought together to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region.

The two countries haven’t disclosed how many North Koreans soldiers were deployed, but South Korea’s intelligence service estimated North Korea sent about 15,000 troops, and 2,000 of them were killed.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency reported on Monday that the museum’s inaugural ceremony was held in Pyongyang on Sunday to mark the one-year anniversary of the end of an operation to liberate the Kursk region.

KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un attended the ceremony along with top visiting Russian officials, including Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, and Defence Minister Andrei Beloussov.