South Korea says Pyongyang is reportedly preparing for ‘additional deployment of soldiers’ to aid Russia’s war efforts.
Published On 23 Dec 2024
More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia’s war with Ukraine, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) has said.
The announcement on Monday follows a report by Seoul’s spy agency to parliamentarians last week, which said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering combat in December.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of soldiers to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.
“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.
Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have said there are approximately 12,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia.
Pyongyang is reportedly “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers”, the JCS added.
Intelligence also suggests that the nuclear-armed North Korea is “producing and providing self-destructible drones” to Russia to further assist Moscow in its fight against Ukraine, JCS noted.
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