Thousands of North Koreans fought for Russia. A memorial hints at the death toll

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.

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 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........

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