North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (C) and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, at the opening of Saeppyol Street in Pyongyang, North Korea, 15 February 2026. Photo: EPA / KCNA
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has unveiled a new street in the country’s capital Pyongyang honouring North Korean troops who died fighting alongside the Russian military, North Korean state agency KCNA reported on Monday.
Kim cut the red ribbon at a ceremony to open Saeppyol Street, which means New Star in Korean, to honour “the heroes of overseas military operations”, KCNA said, a reference to those who died fighting to expel Ukrainian troops from Russia's southwestern Kursk region in late 2024 and early 2025, TASS said.
The families of North Korea soldiers killed in Russia “who unhesitatingly sacrificed their lives for the immortal honour and eternal prosperity of their great motherland” are to be given apartments in the street, which was built “to convey forever the shining star-like feats of the heroes,” according to KCNA.
The ceremony was also attended by North Korean officials, soldiers who fought in the Kursk region, family members of soldiers who died, and Kim Jong Un’s daughter Kim Ju Ae, who has widely been tipped to be the country’s future leader.
Calling the street a source of honour and pride for Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un went on to say that he “hoped that this street, a place where the ennobling souls rest and reverence from all over the country converges, will always brim over with joy and happiness,” KCNA continued.
Last month, Kim Jong Un also approved the construction in the capital of a Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at Overseas Military Operations, according to KCNA.
Meanwhile, South Korean intelligence believes that approximately 6,000 soldiers from the North were either killed and injured fighting for Russia, while another 10,000 North Korean soldiers remain in the frontline zone, the Yonhap news agency wrote on Thursday.
