Putin Secretly Awards North Korean Generals for Kursk Operation, Investigation Reveals

Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a secret ceremony last December to present state awards to North Korean generals who commanded forces against the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region, NK News reported on May 7.

While the Kremlin completely concealed the event from the Russian public, photographic evidence of the ceremony recently surfaced in a newly opened memorial museum in Pyongyang.

According to an analysis of Korean Central Television (KCTV) broadcasts by NK News, the museum officially opened on April 27, 2026. Footage shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un giving a tour to Russian State Duma  Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and Defense Minister Andrei Belousov. Displayed prominently in the museum are photos of Putin personally handing awards to North Korean military personnel.

The caption above the photographs reads: “Ceremony for awarding state awards of the Russian Federation to leading commanders and soldiers of the overseas operational unit of the Korean People’s Army, who took part in the operation to liberate the Kursk region. December 3, 2025.”

Below the photographs, the actual physical medals are displayed. NK News noted that at least five high-ranking North Korean military officials received the honors. While their exact identities remain obscured in the footage, these are likely the same five generals Putin met during the Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, 2025. The December 3 event was notably absent from the Kremlin’s official schedule.

Chris Monday, a Russia specialist at Dongseo University, called the NK News discovery “significant,” pointing out the Kremlin’s deliberate silence.

“The Kremlin wants to emphasize its ‘alliance with North Korea’, but at the same time does not want to look too close to it,” Monday explained.

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He further suggested the awards were a diplomatic band-aid for brewing internal conflicts between the two militaries. “In my opinion, this indicates that Putin is particularly insisting on strengthening ties with North Korea, while Kremlin officials are trying to contain this,” Monday said.

“The North Koreans were dissatisfied with how their soldiers were treated in the Kursk region, and critically evaluated the Russian military leadership. This was an attempt to smooth over the situation,” he continued.

The scale of the North Korean losses is also heavily documented at the new site. Adjacent to the museum are memorial walls bearing the names of nearly 2,300 fallen DPRK soldiers. Pyongyang originally deployed approximately 11,000 troops to assist Russian forces after Ukrainian units advanced into the Kursk region.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov used his April visit to Pyongyang to personally award 10 additional local servicemen who “distinguished” themselves in battles against Ukrainian forces. Meanwhile, a dedicated art exhibition honoring the deployed North Korean troops was recently held in Moscow, according to NK News.

During their visit to Pyongyang, Belousov and Volodin have also secured a new military agreement. According to previous reports, the delegations agreed on a Russian-North Korean defense cooperation plan set to run from 2027 through 2031. The “Memorial Museum of Overseas Military Operations” they toured also displays a large collection of captured Western military equipment seized in Ukraine.

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