North Korean deminers who provided “invaluable assistance” in clearing the border of explosives are expected to redeploy to Russia’s Kursk region in the coming months, according to the region’s governor.

The “revival of our border area would be impossible” without the help of North Korean military engineers, who will be welcomed back “to continue work on restoring Kursk land in spring,” Kursk Gov. Alexander Khinshtein said in a statement on social media Saturday. 

The unit conducted large-scale mine-clearing operations with Russian units in Kursk “since autumn,” the governor said.