North Korea's Kim casts youth as vanguard of state goals amid Russia war

SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met delegates to the ruling party's youth league congress in Pyongyang, state media KCNA said on Sunday, as the government again cast young people as central to both domestic mobilisation and its military role in Russia's war against Ukraine.

The Eleventh Congress of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, a once-in-five-years political gathering aimed at mobilising citizens aged roughly 14 to 30, concluded last week with mass rallies, torchlight parades and a gala in the capital.

Kim on Saturday told delegates that youth was the "vanguard" in advancing state goals, calling the league a key force for carrying out party decisions. He urged tighter organisation and ideological discipline and posed for a group photograph with participants, KCNA said.

In a letter published on Friday, the ruling Workers' Party explicitly linked youth loyalty to Pyongyang's involvement in the Ukraine war, telling the congress that young soldiers sent on overseas operations had "become bombs and flames" in defending the country's honour.

North Korea sent an estimated 14,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and Western officials, who say more than 6,000 North Korean soldiers were killed.

Kim last month unveiled a new memorial in Pyongyang to honour soldiers killed during those deployments.

The emphasis on youth control comes amid intensified repression of foreign cultural influence, with exposure to South Korean music, films and slang treated as serious political offences, as Kim casts youth policy as a pillar of social stability.

He has also increasingly appeared in public with his young daughter, believed to be named Ju Ae, at major state events.

(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 2, 2026 at 3:25 PM.