North Korea has begun building a memorial museum to honor its soldiers who died fighting on the Russian side in the war against Ukraine, Yonhap reports. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, inspected the sculptures and artworks that will be displayed in the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats in Overseas Military Operations and stated that the museum’s exhibits will educate future generations about the “legendary feats and glorious lives” of North Korean soldiers.
During a visit to the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang, Kim inspected the tower and decorative engravings for the museum’s exterior wall. Photos show bas-reliefs depicting battle scenes or soldiers in full gear, two to three times life-size. The Mansudae Art Studio is a leading state-run creative organization that is responsible for producing monumental artworks connected with the regime’s propaganda efforts.
Kim emphasized the need to ensure an “excellent artistic presentation and to express perfection in every detail” so that museum visitors could “feel the faith in the inevitable victory cherished by heroic soldiers,” and always remember them. According to the country’s dictator, the army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has demonstrated the “law of strength, the immutable truth that those strong in spirit always prevail.”
In 2024 Kim sent approximately 11,000 North Korean soldiers to Russia to take part in the fighting in Russia's Kursk Region following Ukrainian incursions. Upwards of 1,500 DPRK soldiers were killed, and another 3,500 were wounded. In January 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released photos of two North Korean servicemen captured in the Kursk sector — the first official evidence that North Korean soldiers had participated in the fighting.
In October 2024, North Korea laid the foundation for a memorial museum in Pyongyang, with Kim Jong Un and Russian ambassador Aleksandr Matsegora in attendance. The North Korean leader called the future museum a “sacred place dedicated to the immortality of true patriots” and emphasized that the DPRK forces had “helped Moscow achieve a decisive victory” in the fight against the “devilish neo-Nazi invaders.”