Overview

• State television aired footage of Kim Jong-un draping flags over a handful of coffins at a gala marking the first anniversary of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty with Russia.
• Only four to six coffins were shown on screen despite estimates of more than 4,700 North Korean deaths in Russia’s Kursk region.
• The broadcast also revealed Kim approving the ‘Liberation Operation Plan for Kursk’ on Oct. 22, Dec. 12 and Dec. 22, 2024.
• Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova led a delegation at the yongyPyongyang Grand Theatre to commemorate the treaty anniversary.
• South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has warned that Pyongyang may send additional combat, engineering and construction units to the Kursk front in July or August.