One thousand North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured in the war with Russia Ukraineand Pyongyang may be preparing to deploy more North Korean soldiers in the regionSouth Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Monday. The information follows a report by Seoul’s spy agency last week that said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering combat in December.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to bolster the Russian military, including in the border region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.
“Through various information and intelligence sources, we assess that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces have suffered around 1,100 casualties,” the JCS said in a statement.
“We are particularly interested in the possibility of additional deployments” of North Korean soldiers to aid Russia’s war effort, the JCS said, adding that Pyongyang is “preparing for rotation or additional deployment of soldiers”.
The JCS said intelligence also suggests that nuclear-armed North Korea was “producing and providing self-destructive drones” to Russia to further aid Moscow in its fight against Ukraine, and that North Korea was supplying “rocket launchers of 240 mm and self-propelled artillery of 170 mm”. “for the Russian army.
Seoul’s military said North Korea aimed 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 towards us,” he said.
The latest findings align with a report by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, which told lawmakers that “Russia could offer reciprocal benefits” for North Korea’s military contributions, including “modernizing the North Korea’s conventional weaponry”.
Military ties between North Korea and Russia
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A historic defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, came into effect this month, and experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is willing to acquire advanced Russian technology and battle experience for his troops
Pyongyang on Thursday criticized what it called “reckless provocation” by the United States and its allies over a joint statement criticizing North Korea’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, including the deployment of troops.
South Korea and Ukraine announced last month that they would deepen security cooperation in response to the “threat” posed by the deployment of North Korean troops, but there was no mention of possible arms shipments from Seoul to Kiev
South Korea’s suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol said in November that Seoul was “not ruling out the possibility of supplying weapons” to Ukraine, marking a significant shift in its long-standing policy of banning arms sales in countries in active conflict.
North Korea builds new border fence
North Korea’s military was also seen building a new fence that stretches 25 miles along the border with the South, testing electric barbed wire fences with what appeared to be goats.
A photo shared by the JCS shows a North Korean soldier holding what appears to be a goat in front of barbed wire fences.
The security boost on the northern border had been underway “for eight months with up to 10,000 troops mobilized,” a military official told reporters.
The heightened security measures are aimed at “preventing defections of North Korean civilians and soldiers to the South,” the JCS said in its report.
The North has also thrown around 7,000 balloons carrying garbage in the South on 32 occasions since May, Seoul’s military said.
Activist groups in South Korea have long sent propaganda to the North, usually carried by balloons, including leaflets, US dollar bills and sometimes USB drives containing K-pop or K-dramas, which they are banned in the tightly controlled North.
Pyongyang criticizes the activity and has said its garbage balloon offensive is in retaliation for the activists’ propaganda efforts.
Although Pyongyang has refrained from launching such balloons since Nov. 29, “indications of its readiness for a surprise launch have been observed at several locations,” Seoul’s military said.