Kim Jong-un has paid tribute to North Korean soldiers killed during Russia’s war with Ukraine, resting his hands on their repatriated coffins in a rare public acknowledgment that his armed forces have suffered fatalities in the conflict.

Axar.az informs, citing Guardian, photographs of the North Korean leader pausing in front of a line of half a dozen coffins draped in the country’s flag were displayed on a screen at a gala performance held on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of a military treaty between the North and Russia.

The event at East Pyongyang Grand Theatre combined performances by North Korean and visiting Russian artists with images celebrating a mutual defence pact agreed by Kim and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Pyongyang in June last year.

The scenes showing Kim and the remains of fallen soldiers followed those of troops from both countries waving their national flags. One image purportedly showed pages from a blood-stained notebook, believed to have belonged to a North Korean soldier, that had been retrieved from a battlefield in Russia’s Kursk region.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, the messages in the notebook read: “The decisive moment has finally come,” and “Let us bravely fight this sacred battle with the boundless love and trust bestowed upon us by our beloved Supreme Commander” – a reference to Kim.