STORY: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met delegates to the ruling party’s youth league congress in Pyongyang, state media reported on Sunday (May 3), as the government again cast young people as central to both domestic mobilisation and its military role in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The country’s state-run television KRT released video footage of Kim meeting with the youth delegates and taking group photographs on Saturday (May 2). They joined The Eleventh Congress of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, a once-in-five-years political gathering aimed at mobilizing citizens aged roughly 14 to 30, which concluded last week with mass rallies.

At the venue, Kim 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 organization and ideological discipline and posed for a group photograph with participants, KRT 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.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, NORTH KOREA (MAY 2, 2026) (KRT - No use North Korea)

1. VARIOUS OF VEHICLES ENTERING VENUE

2. VARIOUS OF YOUTH PARTICIPANTS SALUTING WHILE CHEERING

3. NORTH KOREAN LEADER, KIM JONG UN, GETTING OUT OF VEHICLE

4. PARTICIPANTS CHEERING WHILE NORTH KOREAN FLAGS AND FLAGS REPRESENTING NORTH KOREAN RULING PARTY'S YOUTH LEAGUE CONGRESS

5. YOUTH DELEGATE GIVING KIM FLOWER BOUQUET / OFFICIALS STANDING BEHIND KIM CLAPPING

6. PARTICIPANTS HOLDING RED SCARFS CLAPPING WHILE CHEERING

7. YOUTH DELEGATE SALUTING WHILE KIM TALKING TO HIM

8. VARIOUS OF KIM SHAKING HANDS WITH YOUTH DELEGATE

9. KIM HUGGING WITH YOUTH DELEGATE

10. VARIOUS OF KIM SHAKING HANDS WITH OFFICIALS

11. VARIOUS OF KIM WALKING WHILE RAISING HAND NEXT TO CROWDS OF CHEERING YOUTH PARTICIPANTS

12. VARIOUS OF YOUTH PARTICIPANTS CLAPPING

13. KIM CLAPPING AT CROWDS OF CHEERING YOUTH PARTICIPANTS

14. KIM, OFFICIALS, AND YOUTH PARTICIPANTS POSING FOR GROUP PHOTOGRAPH

15. KIM AND OFFICIALS STANDING UP AFTER TAKING PHOTOGRAPH

16. VARIOUS OF KIM WALKING WHILE CLAPPING / YOUTH PARTICIPANTS CHEERING

17. VARIOUS OF YOUTH PARTICIPANTS CHEERING

18. OFFICIAL WEARING BLUE NECKTIE SPEAKING TO MICROPHONE

19. YOUTH PARTICIPANTS LISTENING

20. AERIAL VIEW OF VENUE

21. VARIOUS OF KIM WALKING NEXT TO CROWDS OF YOUTH PARTICIPANTS / PARTICIPANTS STARTING CHANT AS THEY RAISE RED SCARFS

22. VARIOUS OF PARTICIPANTS CHANTING

23. VARIOUS OF KIM CLAPPING / PARTICIPANTS CHANTING

24. KIM WAVING HAND TO YOUTH PARTICIPANTS / YOUTH PARTICIPANTS CHEERING

25. VARIOUS OF YOUTH PARTICIPANTS CHEERING

26. OFFICIAL TALKING TO KIM

27. KIM LEAVING VENUE WHILE TALKING WITH OFFICIAL

28. VARIOUS OF YOUTH PARTICIPANTS CHEERING