North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang on 25 January 2026 to inspect gold-embroidered sculptures and artwork commemorating soldiers who died fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine, Yonhap reported.
The visit marks one of North Korea's most explicit acknowledgments yet of the cost of its military partnership with Moscow. A deployment that began with denials and is now being enshrined in bronze.
Under a mutual defense pact signed in 2024, Pyongyang sent some 14,000 troops to Russia's Kursk Oblast, where Ukrainian forces had launched an incursion. According to UK defence intelligence, more than 6,000 of those soldiers have been killed, wounded, or went missing—over half the initial deployment.
What North Korean state media said—and didn't say
Kim praised the sculptures for depicting the "legendary feats and glorious life" of fallen troops, according to NK News reporting on the Korean Central News Agency coverage. Photos released by state media showed a gold-embroidered statue of a soldier in Russian-style gear holding an AK-12 assault rifle—the same weapon used by North Korean special forces in Kursk. Behind the statue, a panoramic collage depicts North Korean soldiers fighting Ukrainian troops; one painting, titled "For the Combat Comrade," was previously exhibited in Moscow.
The artworks will be installed at the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats for Overseas Military Operations—a facility under construction in east Pyongyang since its October 2025 groundbreaking. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Russian architects are deeply involved in the project, which is set to open by February.
But KCNA's coverage notably omitted any mention of Russia, Ukraine, or Kursk—referring only to "overseas military operations." The sanitized language contrasts sharply with Moscow's open celebration of the partnership. Russia has unveiled exhibitions featuring bloodstained diaries of North Korean soldiers, announced plans to name streets after them in Kursk, and allocated funding for monuments to "combat brotherhood."
"Our army proved before the times the law of strength, the immutable truth that the strong in spirit always emerge victorious." — Kim Jong Un, KCNA
What Russia and North Korea gain from their alliance
The partnership has proven mutually lucrative. For Russia, North Korea has become an indispensable arsenal. Since late 2023, Pyongyang has supplied Moscow with approximately 9 million artillery shells—roughly half the ammunition Russia uses on the battlefield, according to Western intelligence cited by The Times. North Korea has also delivered over 100 ballistic missiles, 200+ heavy artillery pieces, and 14,000 troops.
In return, North Korea has received technologies it could never have developed alone. According to the May 2025 Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team report, Russia transferred at least one Pantsir air defense system, advanced electronic warfare equipment, and missile guidance data that has improved KN-23 accuracy from unreliable to within 50-100 meters of targets.
South Korean officials believe Russia has also provided nuclear submarine propulsion technology—a capability that could eventually enable Pyongyang to strike the US mainland. Russian oil shipments have effectively nullified UN sanctions.
The bloody price of partnership with Russia
Construction of the Memorial Museum began just months after Russia and North Korea first openly acknowledged their military cooperation—a partnership both governments had denied for 16 months.
North Korean troops arrived in Kursk in late 2024 to support Russia's counteroffensive. Despite training, the soldiers faced devastating casualties from Ukrainian drones, artillery, and HIMARS strikes—technologies many had never encountered.
Surviving North Korean troops gained their first combat experience against foreign forces since the Korean War, learning drone tactics and modern warfare methods that they can apply on the Korean Peninsula.
Intelligence assessments indicate nearly 40% of the initial deployment became casualties within months.
Kim previously awarded "hero" titles to returning soldiers in August 2025, saying his "heart aches" as he placed medals beside portraits of the dead.
The museum is expected to be completed by February 2026.
