More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded while fighting alongside Russian forces in the ongoing Ukraine war, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The new figure follows a report by Seoul’s spy agency to lawmakers last week, which said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering combat in December,News.az reports, citing The Moscow Times.
“Through various sources of information and intelligence, we assess that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces have suffered around 1,100 casualties,” the South Korean military said in a statement.
“We are particularly interested in the possibility of additional deployments” of North Korean soldiers to aid Russia’s war effort, it added. Pyongyang is reportedly “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers.”
According to the South Korean military, intelligence suggests that Pyongyang is “producing and providing self-destructible drones” to Russia to assist Moscow in its fight against Ukraine. The North has also supplied “240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Seoul’s military noted that North Korea was aiming to modernize its conventional warfare capabilities based on combat experience in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“This could lead to an increase in the North’s military threat toward us,” it said.