North Korea sent troops to clear mines in Russia's Kursk region earlier this year, the country's leader Kim Jong Un has said in a speech carried by state media, a rare acknowledgement by Pyongyang of the deadly tasks assigned to its soldiers in the region.

Kim Jong Un praises returning North Korean troops for their "heroic" service in Russia during a welcoming ceremony in Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a welcoming ceremony for an army engineering unit that had returned home after ‌carrying out duties in Russia, the North's KCNA news agency reported on Saturday. In a speech carried by KCNA, Kim praised officers and soldiers of the 528th Regiment of Engineers…