Kim Jong-un admits North Korean troops clearing landmines for Russia [View all]
North Korea sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year, leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech carried on Saturday by state media, a rare acknowledgement by Pyongyang of the deadly tasks assigned to its deployed soldiers.
According to South Korean and western intelligence agencies, North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.
Analysts say Russia is giving North Korea financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies in return, allowing the diplomatically isolated nation to sidestep tough international sanctions on its nuclear and missile programmes.
Hailing the return of an engineering regiment, Kim noted that they wrote “letters to their hometowns and villages at breaks of the mine-clearing hours”, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Nine members of the regiment died during the 120-day deployment that started in August, Kim said in his speech at a welcome ceremony on Friday, KCNA reported.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/13/north-korea-troops-cleared-landmines-russia-kim-jong-un
So in order to curry favor with Putin, he's using his soldiers as minesweepers. Got it.
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