Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament (the State Duma), has visited North Korea to attend events marking the first anniversary of the end of what North Korea calls the “Kursk liberation operation,” in which North Korean troops took part.
North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun reported April 26 that an official Russian delegation led by Volodin arrived in Pyongyang the previous day at the invitation of the Supreme People’s Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense. The paper said the delegation would attend the inauguration ceremony for the Overseas Military Operation Battle Merits Memorial Hall, described as a facility honoring troops deployed to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Jo Yong Won, chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly Standing Committee, and Kim Jong Gyu, a vice foreign minister, greeted the delegation at the airport, the report said.
Kim Jong Un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission, has visited the construction site several times and set the completion date to coincide with the “first anniversary of the liberation of Kursk,” making it likely the ceremony will be held April 26.
Russia, which lost control of Kursk at one point during the war with Ukraine, officially declared on April 26 last year that it had regained the territory.
Jo said the Russian leadership’s decision to send a high-level delegation to the ceremony was “a sign of the sincere support and respect of the entire Russian people” for North Koreans who “reverently recall the shining lives” of those who fought in overseas operations and “wish for their eternal life.”
Volodin said he expressed “sincere gratitude” to Kim and the North Korean people for helping drive out what he called “Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers” from Russia’s Kursk region. He added that Russia would “never forget” the feats of “heroic” North Korean officers and soldiers who, he said, gave their lives in the Kursk operation.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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