North Korea preparing to send more troops to Russia after heavy casualties

North Korea preparing to send more troops to Russia after heavy casualties
by Thomas Maresca
Washington DC (UPI) Jan 24, 2025

North Korea is likely preparing to send additional troops to Russia after suffering heavy losses in battles against Ukrainian forces, South Korea's military said Friday.

"With about four months passing since North Korea's deployment to the Russia-Ukraine war, it is presumed that follow-up measures and preparations for additional deployment are being accelerated due to the occurrence of many casualties and prisoners of war," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a written assessment shared with reporters.

The JCS assessment added that North Korea is continuing preparations to launch advanced weapons such as an intercontinental ballistic missile or spy satellite, although it said no launches were imminent.

Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula since the beginning of the year, with North Korea firing what it claims is a new hypersonic missile as well as a salvo of short-range missiles ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration Monday.

The United States claims that some 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to Russia, with many joining battles on the frontlines in Kursk Oblast.

Seoul's spy agency told lawmakers last week that at least 300 North Korean troops have been killed on the battlefield, while some 2,700 have been wounded.

However, the number of North Korean soldiers killed may be as high as 1,000, according to a BBC report Thursday.

Citing unnamed Western officials, the report said that North Korean troops have suffered 4,000 casualties -- meaning those killed, wounded, missing or captured. Of these, around 1,000 are believed to have been killed by mid-January, it said.

The large number of casualties is due to the North Koreans' "lack of understanding of modern warfare," Seoul's National Intelligence Service said in its briefing with lawmakers.

Footage reviewed by the spy agency revealed the North Korean troops engaging in "pointless" shooting at long-range drones and launching attacks without fire support from the rear.

Moscow and Pyongyang have grown closer since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The two signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in June, which includes a mutual defense clause that calls for mutual military assistance in the event either country is attacked.

In addition to troops, North Korea has sent munitions and missiles to aid Russia in its war against Ukraine. The United States has warned that Moscow intends to provide advanced satellite and space technologies to Pyongyang in exchange.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared footage on social media of two North Korean soldiers who were captured while fighting alongside Russian forces.

In the three-minute-long video, a captured North Korean soldier tells an interviewer that he didn't know he was being sent to fight against Ukraine.

"I was told we were going to do training," he said.

When asked if he wanted to go home to North Korea, the soldier said that he wanted to stay in Ukraine.

A South Korean official on Tuesday condemned the North's use of soldiers as pawns for strengthening ties with Russia and bolstering the regime of leader Kim Jong Un.

"The capture of two North Korean soldiers in Kursk clearly demonstrates that North Korean troops are engaged in combat," Kim Il-hoon, South Korea's deputy permanent representative to the U.N. in Geneva, said at a disarmament conference.

"Many young soldiers' lives are being compromised to fulfill the objective of the North Korean regime," Kim said.