SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s spy agency said Wednesday that North Korea appears to have sent to Russia, after its suffered heavy casualties.
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 and said North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces there.
North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of to Russia, and last fall it sent about 10,000-12,000 as well, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials. 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. earlier put the , though U.S. estimates were lower at around 1,200.
Earlier Wednesday, 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 that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons program. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other from Russia as well.
During talks in Saudi Arabia last week, Russia and the U.S. 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 over its war in Ukraine.
Observers say North Korean leader could send more troops to Russia to win further Russian assistance before the war ends.
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