At the unveiling of a towering bronze sculpture of North Korean and Russian soldiers in combat, Kim Jong Un praised troops who chose death over capture while fighting in Ukraine. It was a striking and unusually explicit acknowledgment of Pyongyang’s long-suspected battlefield doctrine.
According to a transcript published by North Korean state media KCNA, Kim declared that those who “unhesitatingly opted for self-blasting” and suicide attacks had shown the highest form of loyalty, a reference to soldiers throwing themselves on grenades or detonating explosives rather than risk being taken prisoner.
Kim made the remarks at the opening of a vast new memorial complex on the outskirts of the capital,…