SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed troops fighting in an "alien land" in a New Year message to soldiers, state media reported Thursday, in which he underscored Pyongyang's alliance with Russia.
Without mentioning Ukraine, Kim addressed personnel in what the state-run Korean Central News Agency described as "overseas operations units," congratulating their "heroic" defense of the nation's honor and instructing them to "be brave."
"As the whole country is enveloped in a festive atmosphere of greeting the new year, I all the more miss you, who are fighting bravely on the battlefields in the alien land even at this moment, true to the order of your homeland," he said, according to the KCNA.
"Behind you are Pyongyang and Moscow," Kim said in the message.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia's nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies.
At least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates.
Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, and food and energy supplies from Russia in return.
North Korean soldiers are instructed to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, according to South Korea's intelligence service.
The North Korean leader praised soldiers for strengthening the "invincible alliance" with Russia and called on them to fight "for the fraternal Russian people."
Two North Korean prisoners of war held by Ukraine said they hoped to start a "new life" in the South, according to a letter seen by AFP in December.
Previous reports had indicated that the two men, held captive by Kyiv since January 2025 after sustaining injuries on the battlefield, were seeking to defect to the South.
In the letter, the two prisoners thanked those working on their behalf "for encouraging us and seeing this situation not as a tragedy but as the beginning of a new life."
"We firmly believe that we are never alone, and we think of those in South Korea as our own parents and siblings and have decided to go into their embrace," they wrote.
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