Overview
- In a New Year's letter released by KCNA on Jan. 1, Kim Jong Un urged overseas soldiers to be brave and told them, "Behind you are Pyongyang and Moscow."
- The message praised fighters serving in an "alien land" and cast their actions as strengthening what Kim called an invincible alliance with Moscow.
- South Korean and Western intelligence report thousands of North Korean personnel sent to support Russia in Ukraine, with Seoul estimating at least 600 dead and thousands wounded.
- KCNA said Kim met families of overseas soldiers during New Year festivities in Pyongyang and voiced concern for commanders and combatants in those units.
- Two North Korean prisoners of war held by Ukraine wrote in December that they hope to start a new life in the South, according to AFP.