North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, has met the families of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine and expressed his "deep condolences", state media says.
In a special ceremony held on Friday Kim was seen comforting bereaved families and presenting them portraits of their dead loved ones wrapped in the North Korean flag.
South Korea believes the North has sent some 15,000 troops to aid Russia's war with Ukraine, along with missiles and long range weapons. In return it is believed North Korea received food, money and technical help.
North Korea only acknowledged its role in the foreign conflict in April, admitting that some of its soldiers had been killed.
In January, Western officials told the BBC they believed at least 1,000 of the troops sent from North Korea had been killed in three months, with several thousand more wounded but more recent estimates have put the figure closer to 600 killed.
