Soldiers killed in Russia honored as ‘Hero of the Republic’… Families relocated to Pyongyang
A performance held on June 29 at the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea. [Photo/NK Times]
North Korea has reportedly awarded its highest honor, the “Hero of the Republic,” to several soldiers who died in combat in the Russian war with Ukraine.
“Following awards earlier this year, and under a recent directive from (Kim Jong-un), the Hero of the Republic title has again been posthumously conferred on a number of soldiers who died during deployment to Russia,” a North Korean military source said on July 4. “The recipients were mostly soldiers affiliated with the Reconnaissance General Bureau.”
The source further said that the ceremonies were carried out privately by local Party committees in several cities and counties with family members.
“Although it has been done quietly for now, it will later be made public through a documentary,” the source said. “When the war memorial is built, their names will be placed in the front row.”
The source said the recipients are said to have died after making “valiant contributions while participating in the war.”
“The authorities are heavily promoting the messages these soldiers wrote in their notebooks as inspirational examples for both the military and civilian and youth,” he said.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that the families of some of the fallen soldiers who received the award have been relocated to Pyongyang. This is seen as a symbolic gesture of compensation for their loyalty and sacrifice to the state.
“Recently, a family in Hamhung who received the award after their son was killed was assigned an apartment in a newly built complex in Pyongyang,” he said.
The source added that while specific details of the deployments or the number of fatalities have not been made public, he knows of several families whose sons were honored as heroes and who have since moved to Pyongyang.
Earlier, on June 30, Korean Central Television broadcast footage from a North Korea–Russia joint performance held the day before at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre. The video included an image of a bloodstained notebook, believed to have been written on the battlefield in Kursk by a North Korean soldier. The notebook bore the words: “With the boundless love and trust bestowed upon me by our dear Supreme Commander, I enter this sacred fight without hesitation, bravely…”
Han was born in 1989 in Taehongdan county, Ryanggang province, North Korea. She graduated from Hyesan Teacher's College in 2012, after which she worked as an elementary school teacher. She defected to South Korea in 2016 and works as a reporter at NK Times in Seoul.
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