According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the memorial event was held on Friday in Pyongyang to honor troops dispatched overseas. The event came about a week after the unveiling of "the memorial wall" at the ruling party’s headquarters, which displayed photos of more than 100 fallen soldiers. The first memorial event held last week honored about 100 soldiers and this time more than 200 additional names were mentioned.
At Friday's event, Kim handed portraits of the dead wrapped in the national flag to bereaved families and said "I once again express my regret about having failed to save the precious lives of our officers and soldiers who fell in the battlegrounds on a foreign land," said Kim. He pledged that he "will take full responsibility for them [bereaved children] and train them admirably as staunch and courageous fighters like their fathers." Kim also shared plans to designate a new district in Pyongyang and "will lay the remains of the martyrs" and "erect a monument" there.
The repeated memorial events are widely seen as an attempt to ease unrest among soldiers and its people due to the rising number of casualties.
However, there is significant speculation that these gestures are intended to highlight North Korea’s sacrifices in the war. As Kim is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at a military parade in Beijing next Wednesday, these moves may aim to secure economic or political rewards from Moscow. The parade that Kim and Putin are going to attend is China’s "Victory Day" parade, which commemorates the end of World War II, following Japan's formal surrender.
Meanwhile, the National Intelligence Service reported in April that North Korea’s casualties in the war have reached about 4,700, including 600 deaths.
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