North Korea sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region this fall, nine of which were killed during the dangerous deployment, leader Kim Jong Un said in a speech carried by state media Saturday.

In a rare admission of the kamikaze missions assigned to Pyongyang’s soldiers fighting alongside Moscow in the war in Ukraine, the hermit kingdom ruler praised their “heroic” conduct.

Kim said the men demonstrated “absolute loyalty” to the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, commending their political indoctrination, discipline and unity.

“All of you, both officers and soldiers, displayed mass heroism overcoming unimaginable mental and physical burdens almost every day,” Kim said.

The nine soldiers who were killed while mine hunting, during the course of their 120-day deployment that began

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