North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used the country's main youth political gathering to tie the loyalty of citizens aged 14 to 30 to Pyongyang's military role in Russia's war against Ukraine, state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday, as cited by Reuters.
The Eleventh Congress of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League — held in Pyongyang once every five years for North Koreans aged roughly 14 to 30 — closed last week with mass rallies, torchlight parades and a gala concert in the capital, according to KCNA.
Kim addresses delegates as Pyongyang invokes its war role
Speaking on Saturday, Kim told delegates that youth was the "vanguard" in advancing state goals and described the league as a key force for carrying out the ruling Workers' Party's decisions, KCNA reported, according to Reuters. He urged "tighter organisation and ideological discipline" among young people and posed for a group photograph with participants.
In a letter to the congress published a day earlier, the Workers' Party of Korea explicitly tied youth loyalty to Pyongyang's deployments in Russia's war against Ukraine, Reuters reports. Young soldiers sent on overseas operations had "become bombs and flames" in defending the country's honor, the party wrote.
More than 6,000 North Korean troops killed in Kursk Oblast
South Korean, Ukrainian and Western officials estimate that North Korea has sent about 14,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Russia's Kursk Oblast, where more than 6,000 of them have been killed, Reuters reports. British military intelligence puts the death toll at around 6,000 out of roughly 11,000 North Korean personnel deployed to the region, according to RBK-Ukraine.
The first reports of North Korean troops being moved to Russia emerged in October 2024, when South Korean intelligence recorded the transfer of approximately 1,500 soldiers later committed to combat in Kursk Oblast, RBK-Ukraine reports. The outlet adds that North Korean operators have also assisted Russian forces in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast by piloting drones and adjusting fire on Ukrainian positions from across the border.
Last month, Kim unveiled a memorial in Pyongyang to soldiers killed during those deployments, Reuters reports. He has separately praised North Korean troops for blowing themselves up rather than being captured by Ukrainian forces, according to RBK-Ukraine.
Tighter ideological control at home
The renewed focus on youth loyalty coincides with intensified restrictions on foreign cultural influence inside North Korea, where exposure to South Korean music, films and slang is treated as a serious political offense, Reuters reports. Kim has also increasingly appeared at major state events with his young daughter, believed to be named Ju Ae.
