Kim Jong-un accepts WWII medal awarded by Putin days after DEATH rumors spread by Western media
He may have been reported dead last week by US/UK media, but today North Korean leader Kim Jong-un received a medal from President Putin for his contribution to perpetuating the memory of Soviet citizens buried in North Korea.
In 2019, the Kremlin announced the creation of a brand new award named ‘75 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945’, to be given to those chosen by the president. The award has already been presented to multiple people, many of whom are Russian veterans.
According to the Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in North Korea, Kim was awarded the medal “for his great personal contribution to the commemoration of Soviet citizens who died and were buried on the territory of the DPRK, and for looking after the safety of the graves and memorials of Soviet soldiers.”
In 1945, the USSR helped liberate the Korean peninsula from Japanese forces, and more than 4,700 Soviet troops died. According to the embassy, 1,375 are buried in North Korea.
The medal itself was given by Russian Ambassador Alexander Matsegora to North Korean Foreign Minister Ree Song-gwon in Pyongyang’s Mansudae Palace of Congress. Kim Jong-un was not present.
Kim has been leader of North Korea since 2011, but met Putin for the first time in April 2019, at a summit in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
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