[News Today] NK discloses returned soldiers’ remains

[LEAD]
North Korea is now showcasing what it once denied. State media has aired images of its troops fighting in Russia and the return of their remains, months after the regime finally admitted to the deployment. So why the sudden push to publicize it now? We take a look.

[REPORT]
A concert marking the first anniversary of a new treaty between North Korea and Russia.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is watching side by side with the Russian culture minister.

"Oh, our heroes."

When a song dedicated to the dispatched soldiers starts playing, images of the North Korean troops fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war and their blood-stained pocketbooks are shown in the background.

Then the North Korean leader is shown covering the fallen soldiers' coffins with the North Korean national flag and stroking them with a sad look on his face.

A handwritten letter ordering the dispatched troops to conduct attacks three times has also been disclosed.

The footage also shows Kim and Russian participants shedding tears at the event.

N. Korean Central TV
The friendship and genuine internationalist loyalty built between the two countries' militaries in blood.

It's the first time that the regime disclosed images of deployed troops and repatriation of remains via mass media since officially acknowledging troop dispatch belatedly back in April.

A South Korean government official says the move is apparently aimed at strengthening internal solidarity, as the secret troop dispatch caused public unrest in the North, and it also serves as a message to demand compensation from Russia.

Hong Min / Korea Institute for Nat’l Unification
N. Korea prevents public anxiety by making people believe that the sacrifices helped it foster alliance with Russia, which serves national interests well, and that the dispatched soldiers are heroes.

Pyongyang and Moscow have agreed on an additional dispatch of 6,000 military engineers and construction workers.

The National Intelligence Service believes they will be deployed as early as between July and August.