North Korean soldiers have disappeared from the Russian front since mid-January-Liberation
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About three months after the announcements of their deployment which had caused a stir, the North Korean soldiers seem to have disappeared from the Russian-Ukrainian front. “Since mid-January, it turns out that the North Korean troops deployed in the Koursk region in Russia have not been engaged in fights ”, Affirm the South Korean intelligence services this Tuesday, February 4. “One of the reasons could be the high number of victims -North Korean -, but the exact details are still being studied”, underlines this source in a press release.
Friday, January 31, the spokesman for Ukrainian special forces, Oleksandre Kindratenko had declared “Having not seen or detected of armed activity or confrontation with North Koreans” Since “Three weeks”. The soldier then formulated the hypothesis of a withdrawal “Due to the heavy losses they have suffered”. The same day, Kyiv estimated at 12,000 North Korean soldiers having been engaged in the Koursk region, of which “About 500 officers and three generals”. However, neither Russia nor North Korea confirmed the presence of this contingent alongside the Russian army.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in December that 3,000 soldiers from Pyongyang were “Killed or injured” Since their commitment alongside Russia in late October. Seoul figures these same losses around 1,100 dead.
A strong mortality that the former commander of chariot of the British army, Colonel Hamish of Bretton-Gordon, explained at the end of January to the BBC: “They are barely trained troops, led by Russian officers whom they do not understand. They are thrown into the butchery with little chances of survival. They are cannon fodder and Russian officers care even less than their own men. ”
In mid-January, the Ukrainian president said he was ready to hand over to Pyongyang two North Korean soldiers captured in the Koursk region, in exchange for Ukrainian soldiers prisoners in Russia. “Generally, the Russians and the other North Korean soldiers complete their wounded and do everything to erase the evidence of the participation of another State, North Korea, in the war against Ukraine”, and Avancé green.
During a visit to Seoul in early January, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken said that Russia was extending its spatial cooperation with North Korea in exchange for the participation of its troops in the fighting against Ukraine.