Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops – as well as missiles and munitions – to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. Seoul estimates about 2,000 North Koreans have been killed.

In return, analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, food and energy from Russia, helping Pyongyang circumvent heavy international sanctions over its banned nuclear programmes.

The isolated country is building a museum honouring the fallen troops, with state media saying Friday the project is 97% complete.

A ceremony of “burying the remains of the martyrs there would be solemnly held in mid-April and the museum be inaugurated”, KCNA said.

It will be held “on the occasion of the first anniversary of the concluded operations for liberating Kursk”, it added.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the site and inspected final stages of the project, including the arrangement of exhibits, sculptures and symbolic memorials and “highly appreciated” the progress, KCNA said.

Kim described the museum as a monument to the era, praising the “great heroism” of the late soldiers and calling the facility “a seat for education in patriotism”.

North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine in April last year and admitted that its soldiers had been killed in combat.

Kim has since held various ceremonies to honour the fallen troops.

At one such event last year, images released by KCNA showed an emotional Kim embracing a returned solider who appeared overwhelmed, burying his face in the leader’s chest.

The leader was also seen kneeling before a portrait of a fallen soldier to pay his respects and placing medals and flowers beside images of the dead.

In early July, state media again showed a visibly emotional Kim honouring flag-draped coffins, apparently of the deceased soldiers returning home.