BBC Asia reports: Thousands of North Koreans fought for Russia. A memorial hints at the death toll2 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleSoram Cheon,BBC News KoreanandAghnia Adzkia,East Asia Visual JournalismBBCNorth Korea has never disclosed the death toll of the operation in KurskAbout 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.
A rudimentary shell of the 52 sq km 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 building and a cemetery.A BBC analysis of multiple images released by KCNA shows that each wall is divided into about 14 sections, which are marked by grey stone lines at the top.
Background
Names are engraved in nine of these sections, with each containing about 16 columns, according to a BBC calculation.Eight names of the killed soldiers are inscribed in one column, close-up photos of the east wall show.With 16 columns and nine sections, that would equate to 1,152 names engraved on each wall - bringing it to a total of 2,304 across both memorial walls.Songhak Chung, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Security Strategy, agrees with the BBC finding. "The memorial walls are packed with the names of deceased soldiers written in extremely small characters. Considering the surface area and text density, the number of people recorded there is likely to reach several thousand," he says.
Key facts
- Thousands of North Koreans fought for Russia.
- A rudimentary shell of the 52 sq km complex was visible in December.
- By March, most of the exterior construction appeared to have been completed.
What this means
The exact figure cannot be ascertained due to the lack of higher-resolution images, but the BBC estimate is close to the number put forward by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS).In September 2025, the spy agency said about 2,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed and another 2,700 wounded.But by February this year, the NIS updated the figure, saying that about 6,000 of the estimated 11,000 military personnel deployed to Russia had been killed or wounded - though it did not provide a breakdown of the numbers. Neither Pyongyang or Moscow have ever provided any official figures. A 'tiered system'The memorial itself holds a "tiered system of commemoration", says Korean research company SI Analytics.
There is also what appears to be a grey building that sits in the middle of the graveyard - likely to be a columbarium which houses funeral urns, says Chung.Explaining the columbarium, Chung says the "entire wall appears to be filled with grid-patterned storage compartments for remains". "The [columbariam] is a three-storey building, and even excluding offices and exhibition areas, the indoor repository alone would be able to house at least 1,000 sets of remains," says Chung.KCNAWar justificationSouth Korea's Ministry of Unification says it is "difficult to confirm" if all the soldiers who were killed have been memorialised on the walls.
Originally reported by BBC Asia. This story has been edited and re-presented by BRIC Team.
