North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un unveiled a memorial to his country's soldiers who died fighting on the side of Russia in its war with Ukraine. 

Kim Jong-un called the opening of the memorial a "new history in the friendship with Russia written in blood," The New York Times reported. 

Kim and a high-level Russian delegation attended the event, in which Kim embraced North Korean veterans of the war, as well as the Russian delegates. 

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Kim sent arms and thousands of troops. Hundreds of North Korean soldiers have died in the fighting, South Korean intelligence officials estimate.