More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia’s war with Ukraine, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said yesterday.
The new figure follows a report by Seoul’s spy agency to lawmakers last week, which said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering combat this month.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.
Photo: Korean Central News Agency via Reuters
“Through various sources of information and intelligence, we assess that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces have suffered around 1,100 casualties,” the JCS said in a statement.
“We are particularly interested in the possibility of additional deployments” of North Korean soldiers to aid Russia’s war effort, it added.
Pyongyang is “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers,” it said.
Intelligence also suggests that the nuclear-armed North is “producing and providing self-destructible drones” to Russia to further assist Moscow in its fight against Ukraine, it added.
The North was also supplying “240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery” for the Russian army, the JCS said.
Seoul’s military said that North Korea was aiming to modernize its conventional warfare capabilities based on combat experience in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“This could lead to an increase in the North’s military threat toward us,” it said.
The latest findings align with a report by the South Korean National Intelligence Service, which informed lawmakers that “Russia might offer reciprocal benefits” for North Korea’s military contributions, including “modernizing North Korea’s conventional weaponry.”
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A landmark defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, came into force this month.
Experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is keen to acquire advanced technology from Russia and battle experience for his troops.
Pyongyang on Thursday lashed out at what it called “reckless provocation” by the US and its allies for a joint statement criticizing North Korea’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, including the deployment of troops.
South Korea and Ukraine announced last month that they would deepen security cooperation in response to the “threat” posed by the deployment of North Korean troops, but there was no mention of potential arms shipments from Seoul to Kyiv.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in November said that Seoul was “not ruling out the possibility of providing weapons” to Ukraine.
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