South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) believes Pyongyang is now considering sending additional military support to Russia to aid its massive invasion of Ukraine, the Yonhap news agency reported Monday.
The reinforcements could include additional troops and weapons, including kamikaze drones.
“A comprehensive assessment of multiple intelligence shows that North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase troop deployment (to Russia) while currently providing 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery” said the JCS.
According to the South Korean command, suicide drones are one of the objectives targeted by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. They were used extensively in Russia's war in Ukraine, and Kim ordered mass production of aerial weapons and an update of military theory and education, citing intensifying global competition, state media reported.
“There are also signs that (the North) is preparing to manufacture and supply suicide drones, first revealed during Kim Jong-un's on-site inspection in November” the JCS said, attributing the move to Pyongyang's efforts to gain practical warfare experience and modernize its conventional weapons system.
Kyiv, Washington and Seoul have said there are about 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia.
The JCS said at least 1,100 were killed or injuredwhich corresponds to information given last week by the South Korean spy agency, which reported around a hundred dead and a thousand injured in the Kursk region, in Russia.
North Korean soldiers receive fake Russian military ID cards
North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia have been issued fake military ID cards bearing Russian names and places of birth, according to Kyiv.
Ukrainian special operations forces released a statement and photos of documents seized after the alleged deaths of three North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region over the weekend.
Their military identification documents”do not have stamps or photos, the patronymic names are given in the Russian manner and the place of birth is signed as the Republic of Tuva“, a Buddhist region, wedged between Mongolia and southern Siberia, the statement said.
However, the signatures on the documents would be in Korean, which “indicates the real origin of these soldiers“, the statement added.
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