Soldiers who had returned from Russia were honoured with a concert and relatives of troops killed in action were among those to attend a banquet

Kim Jong-un has hailed North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine as “heroes”, at a ceremony to honour soldiers who recently returned from the conflict, state media said on Friday.

The North Korean leader said in a speech this week that his troops had displayed “fighting spirit of the heroes” during their operation to retake Russia’s Kursk region from Ukrainian forces – which had established a foothold there last year – the state news agency KCNA said.