North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has taken a major decision for soldiers and their families amid widespread speculation about his successor.
According to Al Jazeera, Kim Jon Un has opened a new housing district in Pyongyang for families of soldiers killed while fighting overseas amid the East Asian country’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Kim said Saeppyol Street was “a source of honour for our generation and a pride of Pyongyang and our state”, North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported on Monday, February 16.
“He prayed for the immortality of the martyrs along with its inauguration which will etch the martyrs’ names and images in history,” it added.
While the report did not mention Russia, Kim last week pledged to “unconditionally support” all of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies and decisions.
Under a mutual defence pact with Moscow, Pyongyang dispatched thousands of soldiers to Ukraine in 2024, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and Western officials.
Kim said he had pushed to finish the project “even one day earlier” in the hope it might bring “some small comfort” to the soldiers’ families, state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.
Photographs released by KCNA showed Kim, accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae, consoling family members of the fallen soldiers and visiting their newly completed homes.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told legislators last week it estimated 6,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded during their deployment in the war against Ukraine, but did not provide a breakdown of deaths.
Furthermore, this came after reports revealed that Kim is preparing to designate his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, as his successor.
