Kim Jong Un Honors Returning North Korean Engineers from Russia

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed home a regiment of combat engineers on Friday in Pyongyang, honoring soldiers who returned from demining operations in Russia's Kursk region during the ongoing war in Ukraine. The ceremony marked the latest public recognition of North Korea's military support for Russia, with Kim embracing injured troops and bestowing posthumous hero titles on nine soldiers killed in action.

State media reported that the 528th Regiment of Engineers of the Korean People's Army had completed a 120-day deployment starting in early August. The unit's tasks included clearing mines in the Kursk area, where Ukrainian forces had launched an incursion earlier in the year before withdrawing. Kim praised the regiment's efforts during the event, describing how they achieved what he called a "miracle" by transforming a vast danger zone into a safe area in under three months, a feat he said was deemed impossible even over several years.

"You could work a miracle of turning a vast area of danger zone into a safe and secure one in a matter of less than three months," Kim said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. He added that the soldiers displayed "mass...