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The National Intelligence Service said in a brief statement it
was trying to determine exactly how many more troops North Korea
has deployed to Russia.
The NIS also assessed that North Korean troops were redeployed
at fronts in Russia’s Kursk region in the first week of
February, following a reported temporary withdrawal from the
area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an address on
Feb. 7, confirmed a new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk and said
North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces
there.
North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional
weapons to Russia, and last fall it sent about 10,000-12,000
troops to Russia as well, according to U.S., South Korean and
Ukraine intelligence officials. North Korean soldiers are highly
disciplined and well trained, but observers say they’ve become
easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine
battlefields due to their lack of combat experience and
unfamiliarity with the terrain.
In January, the NIS said about 300 North Korean soldiers had
died and another 2,700 had been injured. Zelenskyy earlier put
the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though
U.S. estimates were lower at around 1,200.
Earlier Thursday, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing
unidentified sources, reported that an additional 1,000-3,000
North Korean soldiers were deployed to Kursk between January and
February.
South Korea, the U.S. and their partners worry that Russia could
reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons
technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons
program. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other
assistance from Russia as well.
During talks in Saudi Arabia last week, Russia and the U.S.
agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving
their diplomatic and economic ties. Ukrainian officials weren’t
present at the talks. That marked an extraordinary shift in U.S.
foreign policy under President Donald Trump and a clear
departure from U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war
in Ukraine.
Observers say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could send more
troops to Russia to win further Russian assistance before the
war ends.
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