Seoul [South Korea], December 13 (ANI): North Korea has held a high-profile welcoming ceremony in Pyongyang for its engineer troops who returned from Russia 's western Kursk region after completing a mine-clearance mission, with leader Kim Jong-un paying tribute to nine soldiers who lost their lives during the deployment, Yonhap News Agency reported.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the ceremony took place on Friday to receive members of the 528th Regiment of Engineers, who were sent to Kursk in early August.

Pyongyang had dispatched around 1,000 engineer troops to assist Russia n forces in clearing landmines that were planted by Ukrainian soldiers.

This marked one of North Korea's lesser-acknowledged deployments to support Russia , following the earlier

See Full Page