Images of KPA Overseas Mission Return Performance

As part of a series of events held to mark the first group of military personnel returning from Russia, a performance was held at the 25 April House of Culture in Pyongyang on or around 21 August.   At a separate event at Central Committee HQ, Kim Jong Un (KJU; Kim Cho’ng-u’n) delivered a speech welcoming Korean People’s Army [KPA] Special Operations Forces [SOF] and light infantry back to their home country.

A variety of still and video images of KPA personnel in-country in Russia were shown during the performance.  NK News has some preliminary SME assessments about what these images show in terms of light infantry and the equipment used.  The performance also included accounts of KPA personnel killed in action along with video footage of KJU and North Korean elites receiving the caskets of personnel killed in action.

Below are screenshots from the KCTV broadcast of the performance, organized into two categories (presence in Russia and the repatriation of KIA remains to the DPRK)

I.  KPA SOF and light infantry personnel in Russia conducting light infantry operations, attending briefings and planning meetings, receiving medical treatment and participating in political motivation and indoctrination activities.

II. Repatriation of remains of KPA personnel killed in action (as of 25 August, two repatriation events have been observed)