This is the awkward moment Kim Jong Un is forced to wait for a handshake by a saluting military officer.

The North Korean dictator was in Pyongyang to meet his military leaders.

As Kim walked up the stairs to greet the officers he was greeted by salutes from the officers. 

He then extended his hand to shake hands with the first officer at the top of the stairs

However, the dictator was left waiting for the handshake to be reciprocated as the military man refused to stop saluting his supreme leader. 

In the footage, obtained by the Swedish publication Expressen, the man appears to be saying something to Kim until he gestures to the officer to accept his handshake which he promptly does. 

Kim then continues his walk along the red carpet surrounded by other military personal still standing to attention.

The hermit kingdom has allegedly deployed thousands of soldiers to the Kursk region of Russia in the Ukraine war.

This is the awkward moment Kim Jong Un is forced to wait for a handshake by a saluting military officer

The North Korean dictator was in Pyongyang to meet his military leaders

There are concerns that the dictator could send up to 100,000 troops to help Putin’s army.

North Korea has denied any deployment of troops but Seoul and Washington have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine.

Kim did not mention this in a recent speech to battalion commanders.

During the speech, reported by the state owned Korean Central News Agency, he claimed the US and the West are using the conflict in Ukraine to ‘expand the scope of their military interventions globally.’

Kim said that Washington’s ‘continuing military assistance to Ukraine… raises the concern of World War III.’

He also vowed his country would bolster its nuclear weapons defence ‘without limit’.

Last week, North Korea ratified a landmark defence pact with Russia, formalising months of tightening military bonds between two nations that were close allies throughout the Cold War.

In exchange for sending troops, the West fears Russia is offering North Korea technological support that could advance Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

Meanwhile, the soldiers from North Korea that have been deployed to Russia have confronted another foe – one with which those of us in the developed world are all too familiar: The trappings of the Internet.

As Kim walked up the stairs to greet the officers he was greeted by salutes from the officers

In the footage, the man appears to be saying something to Kim until he gestures to the officer to accept his handshake which he promptly does

A shocking report by Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman revealed Kim Jong Un’s troops were ‘gorging on pornography’ in their barracks, having never enjoyed such unrestricted access to the web, according to a ‘usually reliable source’. 

Though full Internet access is available for high-level officials and military figures in North Korea, the majority of citizens are only granted access to Kwangmyong or ‘the bright star’ network.

This is the pariah state’s only sanctioned web service and is a heavily firewalled and restricted version of the Internet which does not permit access to any foreign websites, media or news services and is instead replete with state propaganda.

US Department of Defense spokesperson Major Charlie Dietz said he was unable to verify ‘any North Korean internet habits or virtual ”extracurriculars” in Russia’.

‘As for internet access, that’s a question best directed to Moscow,’ Dietz said.

‘Right now, our attention remains on supporting Ukraine and addressing the more significant regional security concerns,’ he concluded, demonstrating a high level of professionalism as well as a noticeable lack of humour.