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A newly built memorial in Pyongyang now provides the first observable clues about the number of North Korean soldiers killed in Ukraine while fighting for Russia.
The secretive regime has never officially disclosed its losses from the war. But a detailed analysis of satellite images and state media photos of the memorial site points to a significant death toll.
South Korea estimates that at least 11,000 North Koreans were sent to help Russia reclaim parts of western Kursk after Ukraine’s surprise incursion there in August 2024.
The memorial is called the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at Overseas Military Operations. State news agency KCNA says it honors the unrivalled bravery of soldiers deployed to liberate the Kursk region. Leader Kim Jong Un ordered its construction in October 2025.
Work began that same month in a forested area of Pyongyang’s Hwasong district. Satellite images show a rudimentary shell of the complex was visible by December. Exterior construction appeared finished by March and landscaping wrapped up last month. The site was unveiled on April 26.
What the memorial walls reveal about North Korean soldiers killed in Ukraine
The complex contains two massive memorial walls each stretching 30 meters long. They are covered in engraved names. A detailed examination of published images reveals each wall is divided into roughly 14 sections marked by grey stone lines.
Nine of those sections have names inscribed in them. Each section contains about 16 columns. Close-up photographs show eight names per column. With that layout each wall holds approximately 1,152 names. Together both walls bear around 2,304 names.
Songhak Chung is a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Security Strategy. He agrees with this assessment. The memorial walls are packed with names written in extremely small characters. Considering the surface area and text density the number is likely to reach several thousand he said.
This estimate is close to figures from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service. The spy agency said in September 2025 that about 2,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed and another 2,700 wounded. By February this year the agency updated its assessment saying roughly 6,000 personnel out of the 11,000 deployed had been killed or wounded without giving a breakdown.
The memorial has a tiered system of commemoration according to research firm SI Analytics. Soldiers who showed extraordinary valor received outdoor graves and tombstones. Others are commemorated in urns inside a columbarium. Satellite imagery shows about 140 graves on the west side and 138 on the opposite side.
A grey building sits in the middle of the graveyard. Chung says it is likely a three-story columbarium housing funeral urns. He estimates the indoor repository alone could hold at least 1,000 sets of remains. Kim Jong Un was photographed laying white flowers inside the columbarium among rows of urns.
Researcher Kim Jin-mu believes it is highly likely that all the names of troops killed in Kursk have been inscribed. He says omitting names could risk discontent among bereaved families and undermine the purpose of public support. State media also reported a housing complex for veterans and bereaved families was built in the same district. Residents began moving in back in March.
Cho Han-bum a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification said the monument reflects an effort to justify the deployment after large casualties. For North Korea Russia is the only country it can cooperate with militarily in its current state of isolation. The memorial also signals Pyongyang’s willingness to continue military cooperation with Russia regardless of how the war unfolds.
