Video from state broadcaster KRT on Friday showed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hugging the soldiers, as well as laying a white flower in front of portraits of the nine who died in combat.
The event took place at a giant building close to the centre of the North Korean capital Pyongyang, called the April 25 House of Culture.
The name of the building refers to the founding date that North Korean official history says was when its first leader Kim Il Sung started a militia to fight the Japanese occupation of Korea.