Kim Jong-un attended a welcome ceremony for a North Korean engineering unit that had been dispatched to Russia and returned home.
The Korean Central News Agency reported on the 13th that a welcome ceremony for the "528th Engineer Regiment" was held at the square of the 4.25 Culture Hall in Pyongyang.
In a speech at the welcome ceremony that day, the Chairperson said, "The regiment organized on May 28 set out in early Aug. and won remarkable successes in carrying out engineering combat missions in Russia's Kursk Oblast, liberated by comrades who laid down their lives."
He went on to say, "We achieved a miracle in which a vast hazardous area, which would be hard to bring under control even in a few years, was transformed into a safe zone in a period of less than three months."
The Chairperson also said, "Although there were the heartbreaking sacrifices of nine people, I express my gratitude once again that all the commanders and soldiers of the engineer regiment have returned," adding, "The noble ideology and emotions of our soldiers, who regard a life dedicated to the fatherland not as a sacrifice but as an honor, cannot be matched by any other army."
The welcome ceremony took place on the 9th to 11th. Participants included attendees of the Workers' Party plenary meeting, the Ministry of National Defense, commanders of large combined units of the People's Army, service members and Pyongyang citizens, and families of the dispatched unit.
The Chairperson announced the conferment of the Order of Freedom and Independence First Class on the engineer regiment. In addition, nine fallen fighters were awarded the title of "Hero of the Republic," the National Flag Order First Class, and the Order of the Soldier's Honor First Class.
Meanwhile, North Korea, after sending special forces to recapture Russia's Kursk occupied by Ukrainian troops, sent more than 1,000 engineering troops for mine clearance and other tasks. This is the first time North Korea has disclosed that it dispatched mine-clearing engineers to Kursk.