Since fighting against Ukraine alongside Russia, more than 1,100 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured, the general staff of South Korea, an ally of kyiv, said on Monday, December 23. . According to Seoul, the North Korean military is also preparing a new deployment of troops to Russia, as well as arms deliveries.
“We estimate that North Korean troops, who recently engaged in combat against Ukrainian forces, suffered approximately 1,100 casualties,” a figure that includes dead and wounded, the Joint Chiefs Committee said in a statement. Joint Staff (JCS).
The Ukrainian president then gave a figure which far exceeds the estimates of the South Korean army general staff. According to him, nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers were “killed” or “wounded” in fighting with Ukrainian forces in the Russian border region of Kursk. “According to initial information, the number of North Korean soldiers killed or wounded in the Kursk region has already exceeded 3,000,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on X.
South Korea and Ukraine announced in November a strengthening of their security cooperation in response to the “threat” posed by the deployment of North Korean troops, although without specifically mentioning arms deliveries.
South Korea fears “military threat from the North”
The South Korean general staff has also observed preparations which make it believe that North Korea is preparing to send new troops to Russia, as reinforcements or to relieve those already fighting. Intelligence collected by South Korea indicates that the North “is producing and delivering self-destructive drones” to Russia, the JCS added.
According to him, Pyongyang also supplies Moscow with its 170 mm self-propelled guns, the formidable “Koksan” with a range of 40 to 60 km, as well as 240 mm multiple rocket launchers. The South Korean military believes North Korea is seeking to modernize its conventional warfare capabilities with Russian assistance, based on its combat experience against Ukrainian forces. “This could lead to an increase in the North's military threat against us,” said the JCS.
Several thousand North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia in recent weeks to support the Russian army, according to Westerners. For its part, the Kremlin has each time evaded questions on the subject, not wanting to confirm this information. On December 17, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Syrsky, declared that the Russian army was carrying out “intense offensive operations in the Kursk region, actively using units of the North Korean army”, adding that it had already “suffered heavy losses”.
Ukraine launched a surprise offensive in the Russian region of Kursk in early August. She still controls a small part of this territory. North Korea has never confirmed or denied the presence of its troops alongside Russia.
A historic treatise
The two countries have strengthened military ties since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A historic mutual defense treaty between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, entered into force earlier this month. It provides for “immediate military aid” in the event of armed aggression by a third country.
The JCS's latest findings confirm a South Korean intelligence report sent to lawmakers last week that “Russia could offer reciprocal benefits” to North Korea for its military contribution, including “modernization of its conventional weapons.
South Korea and Ukraine announced in November a strengthening of their security cooperation in response to the “threat” posed by the deployment of North Korean troops, although without specifically mentioning arms deliveries. South Korea is one of the largest arms manufacturers in the world but, by tradition, refuses to supply weapons to countries actively engaged in war.
In the same report, the JCS said North Korea is building a new fence about 40 km long on its border with the South. A photo provided by the South Korean military showed a North Korean soldier holding a goat near a line of barbed wire, likely in an effort to test the effectiveness of electric fences on the animal.
The reinforcement of the border by the North has been underway “for eight months, with no less than 10,000 soldiers mobilized,” a military official told the press. According to the JCS, these measures aim to “prevent defections of North Korean civilians and soldiers to the South.”
