Through an event shown on North Korean state television, Mr. Kim also highlighted the sacrifices made for Moscow and the rewards he seeks.

Diminutive North Korean leader Kim Jong un was shown throwing himself on a coffin of a soldier who was killed fighting for Russia in a bizarre patriotic TV show on state media Monday. The program showed North Korean and Russian officials weeping as they viewed footage of Kim kneeling over a flag-draped casket of one of the hundreds of Koreans he had sent into Moscow’s meat grinder in Ukraine.

North Korea is set to treble the number of its troops fighting for Russia along the front lines with Ukraine, sending an additional 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers to assist Moscow, according to an intelligence assessment from Ukrainian officials.