Kim Jong-un’s daughter attends NK–Russia concert in 2nd official diplomatic outing
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un put Pyongyang’s growing alignment with Moscow on full display — from the battlefield to cultural exchanges — by attending a concert, where scenes of North Korean troops fighting for Russia and the repatriated remains of fallen soldiers were shown on a large background screen.
Kim and Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova watched the concert at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre in the capital Pyongyang on Sunday, featuring performances by visiting Russian artists and a return performance by North Korean performers, North Korean state media reported Monday.
The concert was held to mark the first anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty on June 19, 2024, which includes a mutual defense commitment.
State-run Korean Central Television aired footage of North Korean artists performing in front of a screen depicting the chronology of North Korea’s troop deployments in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The concert’s backdrop included scenes of Kim Jong-un kneeling and touching a coffin draped in the North Korean flag, believed to contain the remains of a soldier killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine. His sister, Kim Yo-jong, and Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui were also shown receiving the repatriated remains of fallen North Korean soldiers from Russia.
Pyongyang also revealed for the first time, through on-stage visuals, that Kim had approved operational plans for North Korean troops in the Kursk region and had ordered attacks to be carried out between Oct. 22 and Dec. 22, 2024.
This marks the first time North Korean state media has shown footage and photos of its soldiers sent to Russia that are accessible to the North Korean public.
Pyongyang officially confirmed its troop dispatches both domestically and internationally in late April, following around six months of silence.
North Korean artists performed against a backdrop of images showing North Korean and Russian soldiers deployed on the battlefield and North Korean soldiers holding the flags of their country and Russia, according to photos released by the KCNA.
North Korean media reports came as South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday that additional troop deployments by North Korea could occur as early as July or August.
During the concert, Kim Jong-un was also accompanied by his daughter — believed to be named Ju-ae — who sat next to her father. This marks Ju-ae's second official diplomatic activity, following her visit to the Russian Embassy in North Korea with her father on May 8 for Russia’s Victory Day.
Before the concert, Kim and Lyubimova held talks at the headquarters of the Party Central Committee in Pyongyang.
“Kim Jong-un expressed belief that the current visit would further raise the militant comradeship and feelings of friendship between the two countries,” said the state-run Korean Central News Agency in its English-language report on the significance of Lyubimova’s visit to Pyongyang, which began Saturday.
The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang on Sunday also confirmed the visit of a large Russian delegation comprising 125 people, including artists.
North Korean state media has highlighted the country's growing ties with Russia through extensive media coverage in recent weeks.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang co-hosted a reception on June 19, marking the one-year anniversary of a bilateral defense treaty. Kim also met with Russia’s top security official, Sergei Shoigu — a close confidant of Putin — on June 4 and 17, marking two meetings in just two weeks in Pyongyang.
In a vividly contrasting picture, Pyongyang has remained silent on US President Donald Trump’s continued overtures to revive summit diplomacy with Kim.
In an apparent sign that Pyongyang and Washington are not on the same page, North Korean state media continues to instill anti-US sentiment through its articles, while carefully avoiding direct criticism of Trump.
In the Oval Office, when Trump was asked whether he had written a letter to Kim as reported by the media, he responded Friday, "If there is a conflict, I get along with him very, very well. And we’ll get the conflict solved with North Korea.”
North Korea’s main newspaper carried a front-page article on Sunday emphasizing the importance of self-reliance in the face of sanctions imposed by “hostile forces,” apparently referring to the US.
The article underscored that the banner of self-reliance is by no means a temporary solution to overcome immediate difficulties, but something that "must always be firmly held as a strategic weapon."
The Unification Ministry in Seoul said it viewed the article as part of North Korea's routine criticism of the US, but noted that it has been tempering its denunciations.
“In particular, since the launch of the Trump administration, we assess that North Korea has actually been moderating the tone of its criticism toward the US compared to before,” the ministry's spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam said.
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com
