Thousands of North Koreans fought for Russia. A memorial hints at the death toll
An estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to fight in Russia's war against Ukraine.
BBC News - Asia
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Thousands of North Koreans fought for Russia. A memorial hints at the death toll
11 hours ago
Soram Cheon,BBC News Koreanand
Aghnia Adzkia,East Asia Visual Journalism
BBC
North Korea has never disclosed the death toll of the operation in Kursk
About 2,300 North Korean soldiers have died fighting for Russia against Ukraine, according to a BBC investigation based on satellite images and official photos of a new memorial in Pyongyang.
South Korea estimates at least 11,000 North Koreans were sent to Russia to help recapture parts of western Kursk, after Ukraine launched a surprise incursion in Kursk in August 2024.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has previously publicly paid tribute to soldiers who died in the war - and it is believed that in return for providing soldiers, Pyongyang received food, money and technical help from Moscow.
The secretive regime has never disclosed the death toll of the operation in Kursk, which Russia says it has fully reclaimed - but for the first time, a new memorial offers observable clues - here's what they tell us.
Names on the walls
In October 2025, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the construction of a museum in Pyongyang's Hwasong district to honour the troops killed in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Work started in a heavily forested area within the same month, according to a BBC analysis of satellite images provided by Planet Labs, a US imaging company.
A rudimentary shell of the 52,000 sq m complex was visible in December. By March, most of the exterior construction appeared to have been completed. Landscaping and surrounding facilities were finished last month.
Unveiled on 26 April, the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at Overseas Military Operations aims to convey the "unrivalled bravery" of North Korean soldiers during their deployment to "liberate [the] Kursk region", according to state news agency KCNA.
The memorial consists of two 30m (98ft) long memorial walls engraved with names, a building and a cemetery.
A BBC analysis of multiple images released by KCNA shows that each wall is divided into about 14 sections, which are marked by grey stone lines at the top. Names are engraved in nine of these sections, with each containing about 16 columns, according to a BBC calculation.
Eight names of the killed soldiers are inscribed in one column, close-up photos of the east wall show.
With 16 columns and nine sections, that would equate to 1,152 names engraved on each wall - bringing it to a total of 2,304 across both memorial walls.
Songhak Chung, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Security Strategy, agrees with the BBC finding.
"The memorial walls are packed with the names of deceased soldiers written in extremely small characters. Considering the surface area and text density, the number of people recorded there is likely to reach several thousand," he says.
The exact figure cannot be ascertained due to the lack of higher-resolution images, but the BBC estimate is close to the number put forward by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS).
In September 2025, the spy agency said about 2,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed and another 2,700 wounded.
But by February this year, the NIS updated the figure, saying that about 6,000 of the estimated 11,000military personnel deployed to Russia had been killed or wounded - though it did not provide a breakdown of the numbers. Neither Pyongyang or Moscow have ever provided any official figures.
A 'tiered system'
The memorial itself holds a "tiered system of commemoration", says Korean research company SI Analytics.
Soldiers who demonstrated "extraordinary valour" are honoured with outdoor graves and tombstones, while others are commemorated in urns inside the columbarium.
Kim Jin-mu, a former senior research fellow at the government-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, says those buried in the graveyard may include recovered bodies, senior officers, or individuals who have been given special recognition, including those who acted in self-sacrifice.
About 140 graves sit on the west side of the graveyard and 138 that sit on the opposite site, according to a satellite image taken in early April provided by SI Analytics.
There is also what appears to be a grey building that sits in the middle of the graveyard - likely to be a columbarium which houses funeral urns, says Chung.
Explaining the columbarium, Chung says the "entire wall appears to be filled with grid-patterned storage compartments for remains".
"The [columbariam] is a three-storey building, and even excluding offices and exhibition areas, the indoor repository alone would be able to house at least 1,000 sets of remains," says Chung.
KCNA
War justification
South Korea's Ministry of Unification says it is "difficult to confirm" if all the soldiers who were killed have been memorialised on the walls.
However, researcher Kim believes it is highly likely that the names of all North Korean troops who died in Kursk have been inscribed.
"The memorial is intended to reward those who have sacrificed for the state and maintain public support," he says. "Omitting names could risk discontent among bereaved families and undermine its purpose."
North Korean state media also reported a housing complex had been built for Russian war veterans and bereaved families within the same district. Residents have started moving in since March.
Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification, says Pyongyang's decision to build a monument dedicated to the killed troops reflects an effort to justify the deployment following large casualties.
"For North Korea, Russia is the only country it can co-operate militarily with in its current state of isolation," he says.
The memorial also signifies Pyongyang's willingness to continue military cooperation with Russia "regardless of how the war unfolds".
Graphics by Arvin Supriyadi. Additional reporting by Grace Tsoi
BBC
