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Putin thanks North Korea for dispatching troops to Kursk

Published: 28 Apr. 2025, 15:52

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

A television screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, during a news program at Seoul Station in Jongno District, central Seoul, on April 28. [AP/YONHAP]

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for its dispatch of troops to the Kursk region, the Kremlin press service reported on Monday, according to Russia’s state-run Tass News Agency.

“Our North Korean friends’ move was guided by a sense of solidarity, justice and genuine comradery,” Putin was quoted as saying in a statement. “We highly appreciate this and are sincerely grateful, personally to the Chairman of the State Affairs Committee, Comrade Kim Jong-un, as well as to the entire leadership and the people of North Korea.”

“We commend the North Korean soldiers’ heroism, their excellent training and dedication displayed while fighting, shoulder to shoulder with Russian soldiers, defending our Motherland as their own," Putin said. "They fulfilled their duty with honor and valor, covering themselves with unfading glory.”

On Monday, North Korea recognized for the first time that its military had deployed troops to the Kursk region in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The South Korean government condemned it as an “admission of a criminal act” and criticized North Korea for “insulting the international community.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]