More than 1,000 North Korean military casualties in Ukraine war, says South Korea
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Claims underline risks posed to North’s untested armed forces amid reports regime could send reinforcements. More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded since they were sent to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, according to South Korean military officials.
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In a statement released on Monday, the South’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said: “We assess that North Korean troops, who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces, have suffered around 1,100 casualties.”. The JCS did not say how many troops had been killed in action, but the claims underline the risks posed to the North’s untested armed forces, amid reports that the regime is poised to send further reinforcements to Ukraine.
Last week, South Korea’s spy agency claimed that at least 100 North Korean troops had died since being sent into combat this month. Lee Seong-kweun, a South Korean MP, said after meeting intelligence officials that the high number of casualties could be attributed to the “unfamiliar battlefield environment, where North Korean forces are being used as expendable frontline assault units, and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks.”.
Lee said several North Korean casualties had been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, and others to training accidents, with the highest-ranking victim “at least at the level of a general”. The JCS said it was “particularly interested in the possibility of additional deployments” to aid Russia’s war effort, adding that Pyongyang was “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers”.
