South Korean lawmakers provide update on estimated casualties following briefing by country’s intelligence agency.
Published On 30 Apr 2025
About 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed fighting in Russia’s war in Ukraine, South Korean lawmakers have said, citing intelligence officials.
Speaking after a closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Wednesday, Lee Seong-kweun and Kim Byung-kee told reporters that an estimated 4,700 North Koreans had been killed or injured so far in the war.
Lee and Kim, who co-chair the legislature’s intelligence committee, made their comments two days after Pyongyang confirmed for the first time that it had sent troops to Russia to support Moscow’s war.
In a report by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was quoted as saying he had ordered the deployment of troops to “annihilat