Everyone else blew themselves up. I failed.
In Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un stood before a memorial and declared that soldiers who detonated grenades to avoid capture in Ukraine were heroes — not despite their deaths, but because of them. The public ceremony, attended by senior Russian officials, transformed what intelligence agencies had long suspected into official state doctrine: North Korean troops were ordered to die rather than surrender. At least 6,000 of the estimated 15,000 deployed soldiers have been killed, their sacrifice reframed by their government not as loss, but as the highest expression of loyalty. In this, an ancient and terrible question resurfaces — what does a state owe the young men it sends to die, and what does it mean when their deaths are the point?
- Kim Jong Un publicly celebrated soldiers who killed themselves to avoid capture, converting a suspected battlefield policy into a celebrated national virtue.
- At least 6,000 North Korean troops have died in Ukraine — losses neither Pyongyang nor Moscow will officially acknowledge — while a captured soldier expressed shame at having survived.
- Intelligence memos recovered from dead soldiers and on-camera testimony from prisoners of war confirm that self-destruction was not a last resort but an explicit order.
- Russian defense and parliamentary leaders attended the Pyongyang memorial, signaling that the Russia-North Korea military alliance is deepening well beyond arms transfers.
- Kim's framing of suicide as loyalty rather than tragedy normalizes the tactic within North Korean military doctrine, raising the stakes for any future deployment or conflict.
On Monday in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un stood before a memorial for soldiers killed in Ukraine and called them heroes — specifically praising those who had detonated grenades rather than allow themselves to be captured while fighting alongside Russian forces. The ceremony, attended by Russia's Defence Minister and the speaker of parliament, transformed long-suspected battlefield policy into public doctrine.
South Korea estimates that at least 15,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to help Russia recapture territory in the Kursk region, with more than 6,000 killed so far — figures neither government has acknowledged. These were young conscripts raised inside a military system that teaches surrender as treason, making death the only permissible alternative to capture.
Kim described the soldiers' self-destruction as 'the height of loyalty,' language that repackages what international law would recognize as a war crime into a matter of national honor. The evidence for this policy is substantial: intelligence services found memos on the bodies of dead soldiers, and a South Korean broadcaster aired testimony from a North Korean prisoner of war in Ukraine who said, 'Everyone else blew themselves up. I failed.' His survival, in his own telling, was a source of shame.
Even soldiers killed in conventional combat were described by Kim as men who 'writhed in frustration at the failure to fulfill their duties' — a framing in which the body's suffering is irrelevant beside the question of obedience. The deployment reflects a Russia-North Korea alliance that has grown structural since Putin and Kim signed a mutual defense treaty in June 2024. For Pyongyang, the deaths of 6,000 young men are not a private grief — they are a public demonstration, held up as a model for those still living.
Kim Jong Un stood before a memorial for fallen soldiers in Pyongyang on Monday and called them heroes. Not for victories won or territory held, but for killing themselves. The North Korean leader praised troops who had detonated grenades rather than face capture while fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, transforming an act of desperation into an official virtue. His words confirmed what intelligence agencies and defectors had long suspected: North Korean soldiers were operating under explicit orders to take their own lives rather than surrender.
The scale of the deployment is staggering. South Korea estimates that at least 15,000 North Korean troops have been sent to help Russia recapture territory in the Kursk region. More than 6,000 have been killed so far, though neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has acknowledged these figures. The soldiers were young men conscripted into a military system that teaches them surrender is treason—a betrayal so profound that death becomes the only acceptable alternative to capture.
In his speech, Kim framed this self-destruction as the highest form of loyalty. "Their self-sacrifice expecting no compensation, and the devotion expecting no reward," he said, "this is the definition of the height of loyalty of our army." The language transforms suicide into patriotism, repackaging what would elsewhere be recognized as a war crime into a matter of national honor. Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov and the speaker of Russia's parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, attended the ceremony, lending their presence to the endorsement.
The evidence of this policy comes from multiple sources. Intelligence services found memos on the bodies of dead North Korean soldiers pointing to the practice. Earlier this year, a South Korean broadcaster aired an interview with two North Korean prisoners of war held in Ukraine. One of them, speaking on camera, expressed regret that he had not killed himself. "Everyone else blew themselves up," he said. "I failed." The words carry the weight of a man who has internalized the system's logic so completely that his survival feels like shame.
Kim also praised those who died in conventional combat, describing them as soldiers who "writhed in frustration at the failure to fulfill their duties" rather than soldiers suffering from wounds. Even in death from bullets and shells, the framework remains the same: the body's pain is secondary to the question of whether one has honored one's orders. This is the military doctrine of a state that has weaponized obedience into a form of death.
The deployment of North Korean troops represents a deepening military alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow. In June 2024, Putin and Kim signed a mutual defense treaty, which Kim called the "strongest ever." Beyond soldiers, North Korea has also committed to sending thousands of workers to help rebuild Kursk. The partnership is becoming structural, woven into the fabric of both nations' strategic interests. Kim's public endorsement of suicide tactics signals that this alliance will not be constrained by international norms around the treatment of soldiers or the conduct of war. For North Korea, the deaths of 6,000 young men are not a tragedy to be mourned in private or explained away—they are a spectacle to be celebrated, a demonstration of loyalty that the state holds up as a model for those still living.
Citações Notáveis
Their self-sacrifice expecting no compensation, and the devotion expecting no reward—this is the definition of the height of loyalty of our army.— Kim Jong Un, in a speech at a memorial for fallen troops
Everyone else blew themselves up. I failed.— A North Korean prisoner of war held in Ukraine, speaking to South Korean media
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
When Kim Jong Un calls soldiers who killed themselves 'heroes,' what is he actually saying to the rest of his military?
He's saying that obedience unto death is the only acceptable form of service. It's not a new idea in North Korea, but saying it publicly, at a memorial, with Russian officials present—that's a statement that this is policy, not rumor.
The soldiers were told not to surrender. Were they also told they would die?
Not explicitly, probably. But they were taught that capture is treason. In that system, you know what your only option is. The state doesn't have to order you to shoot yourself if you've already internalized that you're already dead the moment you're taken.
Why would Russia allow this? Why attend the ceremony?
Because it solves a problem for them. North Korean soldiers are expendable in a way Russian soldiers aren't politically. And by attending, Volodin and Belousov are saying: we endorse this. We're partners in this.
The prisoner who said he 'failed' by surviving—what does that tell us?
That the indoctrination works. He's been captured, he's safe, and he still believes he should have died. That's the depth of what North Korea has built into these young men.
Is this sustainable? Can Kim keep sending soldiers if word gets back home about what's happening?
That's the question. But North Korea controls information tightly. Families of the dead won't hear the truth. And if they do, what can they do? The state has already framed their sons' deaths as heroic sacrifice.