North Korean leader Kim Jong Un solemnly kneels to cover coffins with DPRK flags, his sister and party higher-ups by his side, as Russian military officers and diplomats hand over caskets bearing North Korean soldiers presumably killed in action in Kursk.

These were the images the DPRK state TV broadcast on Monday in its coverage of a concert meant to celebrate the unbreakable ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, a surprisingly open remembrance for fallen North Korean “heroes” that appeared to be a bid to cement the Russia-DPRK alliance “forged in blood.”