Here is what South Korean intelligence is saying is the estimated casualty numbers for North Korean troops fighting in Russia against Ukraine:
National Intelligence Service chief Cho Tae-yong (C) attends a plenary session of the intelligence committee at the National Assembly in Seoul on Jan. 13, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
At least 300 North Korean soldiers dispatched to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine have been killed, with some 2,700 others injured, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Monday.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) shared the information with lawmakers during a closed-door meeting by the parliamentary intelligence committee, according to Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the ruling People Power Party.
The NIS said it attributed the “massive casualties” of North Korean soldiers to their “lack of understanding of modern warfare,” including their “useless” act of shooting at long-range drones, based on the agency’s analysis of a combat video it obtained recently.
I wonder how many of these North Korean Soldiers realized they were going to war when they left their country for Russia?:
One of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine has claimed during questioning that he thought he was going for training, not to the war against Ukraine, Kyiv’s security service has said.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine has captured two wounded North Korean soldiers in Russia’s western Kursk region and that investigators were questioning them.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it has questioned the two soldiers through Korean interpreters in cooperation with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) as they do not speak Ukrainian, Russian or English
You can read more at the link, but I wish they would not show these guys faces because this is going to lead to retaliation against their family members back in North Korea for them being captured alive.
Here is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about North Korean forces fighting Ukraine in Russia:
The crude stick-figure diagram, sketched in blue ink, details how North Korean soldiers deployed to support Russia in the Ukraine war should respond to the approach of a Ukrainian drone. One soldier—referred to as “bait” in the drawing—should stand still to lure the drone so that a pair of comrades can attempt to shoot it down.
The grisly tactics were divulged in a diary taken off a slain North Korean soldier on Dec. 21, with passages containing mundane details of life at the front, descriptions of combat tactics and expressions of love for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to excerpts recently made public by Ukraine’s special-operations forces. Independent experts say the diary entries appear genuine, with penmanship, word choice and expressions of ideological fervor all common in North Korea.
The young soldier who penned the passage about the drone died in a firefight alongside two other compatriots, according to Ukraine’s special forces.
“Even at the cost of my life, I will carry out the Supreme Commander’s orders without hesitation,” reads one entry from the diary. “I will show the world the bravery and sacrifice of Kim Jong Un’s special forces.”
You can read more at the link, but Ukraine intelligence services are stating there has been up to 4,000 North Korean casualties. They are also reporting that North Korea may be preparing a second deployment of Soldiers to assist Russia. What I found most interesting from the article is that Ukraine has lost half the land they seized in Russia which shows that despite the heavy losses the North Koreans may be having an impact on the battlefield.
As with anything coming from Ukraine I recommend having some skepticism on how true these reports are:
North Korean troops deployed to Russia’s western border with Ukraine are conducting “human wave tactics” on the battlefield, leading to more than 1,000 casualties within their ranks last week, a White House spokesman said recently.
North Korean troops supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are conducting ground assaults in the Kursk region against Ukrainian forces that have led to “heavy casualties,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday during a news conference in Washington, D.C. “It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses,” he said. “These North Korean soldiers appear to be highly indoctrinated, pushing attacks even when it is clear that those attacks are futile.”
You can read more at the link, but you would think there would be drone or other footage of a massive human wave attack that would be shown to prove this claim? Since there isn’t this leads me to believe they are probably rushing Ukrainian positions in small squad sized numbers and this is being called a “human wave” attack.
The North Koreans did get sent to go fight in a war so it should not be a surprise that they have wounded and killed:
This Dec. 16, 2024, screenshot shows a photo from the Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda of what it described to be Russian and North Korean soldiers killed in combat. It has been partially blurred.
The United States has indications that North Korean troops have suffered casualties, including fatalities, during combat alongside Russian forces against Ukraine, Reuters reported Monday, citing a Pentagon spokesperson.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder made the remarks as Kyiv’s intelligence authorities have said that some 200 Russian and North Korean soldiers were estimated to have been killed while fighting in combined units against Ukrainian forces.
“We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk … we do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded,” Ryder was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters. Kursk is Russia’s western front line.
Via a reader tip comes this news of a North Korean friendly fire incident in Ukraine. It is coming from Ukrainian intelligence so the usual caveats apply in regards to how true this story is:
Russian paramilitary soldiers were accidentally targeted and killed by North Korean troops in a recent bout of friendly fire, according to Ukrainian officials.
In a statement published on Saturday, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) detailed how Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) soldiers have recently assisted Russian troops in the Kursk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian officials estimate that around 11,000 DPRK personnel are stationed in Russia.
“The aggressor state of Russia has begun to use DPRK soldiers in assault operations in the Kursk region, in particular, as part of the combined units of the marines and airborne troops of the Russian Armed Forces,” the statement read.
It appears the authoritarian block is sending a message to South Korea about supporting Ukraine:
South Korea scrambled fighter jets Friday after six Russian and five Chinese military aircraft entered the country’s air defense identification zone. The foreign aircraft approached the zone between 9:35 a.m. and 1:53 p.m., crossing into the buffer near the southern and eastern coasts, according to a statement from the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Air defense identification zones are buffers designed by some nations to monitor and identify approaching aircraft before they enter national airspace.
At this point I don’t know why Russia would want to disguise North Korea’s Soldiers. Everyone knows they are there:
A group of North Korean soldiers disguised as “indigenous people” of Russia’s Far East have engaged in combat with Ukrainian troops in Russia’s western border region of Kursk, according to a Ukraine news report.
Citing Kyiv’s top military officer, RBC Ukraine on Sunday (local time) reported that more than 11,000 North Korean soldiers are already stationed in the Kursk region and have take part in battles against Ukrainian troops.
“These are mostly general military units. They are disguised as indigenous people of the Far East. They have the appropriate documents,” Anatolii Barhylevych, the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was quoted as saying.
Who knows how true this is, but this is what Ukraine is claiming a missile strike into Russia’s Kursk province has caused:
A Ukrainian media outlet has reported that about 500 North Korean soldiers were killed in a missile strike by Kyiv in Russia’s western Kursk region.
Citing Global Defense Corp., a defense news publisher, RBC Ukraine said the North Korean soldiers were killed “as a result of the Storm Shadow missile strike on the Kursk region.”
South Korean and U.S. officials said North Korea sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia in support of its invasion against Ukraine.
