100 North Korean troops killed in Ukraine war, South Korea says

At least 100 North Korean soldiers deployed to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine have been killed since entering combat in December, South Korean lawmakers claimed this morning. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year. But Ukrainian and South Korean officials say the North Koreans have proven a burden to Russian forces due to their outdated battlefield tactics, while inexperience with drone warfare makes them easy targets for Kyiv ‘s battle-hardened warriors. The Khorne Group – an organization linked to Kyiv forces in the 116th separate mechanized brigade and 95th air assault brigade, shared footage showing what appeared to be North Korean soldiers dumbfounded by a Ukrainian FPV drone above them.

The Khorne Group said: ‘The long awaited North Koreans. Weakness and bravery are their tactics, their trump card is good fitness.’ They were ‘applying the same tactics as 70 years ago’, Khorne Group added, alluding to the Korean War. It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared Russian troops were ‘burning the faces’ of dead North Korean servicemen to conceal their identities, sharing macabre images to illustrate his claim. Citing a report by South Korea ‘s intelligence services, MP Lee Seong-kweun said this morning: ‘In December, they (North Korean troops) engaged in actual combat, during which at least 100 fatalities occurred.

‘The National Intelligence Service also reported that the number of injured is expected to reach nearly 1,000.’ Despite those losses, the agency also said it had detected signs North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was preparing to train a new special operations force to ship westward. Lee noted that the North’s elite Storm Corps – from which the initial deployment was drawn – had ‘the capacity to send reinforcements’. The NIS also predicted ‘that Russia might offer reciprocal benefits’ for a new deployment, Lee said, including ‘modernizing North Korea’s conventional weaponry’.

The lawmaker added that ‘several North Korean casualties’ had already been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks and training accidents, with the highest ranking ‘at least at the level of a general’. The NIS said the high number of casualties could be attributed to the ‘unfamiliar battlefield environment, where North Korean forces are being utilized as expendable frontline assault units, and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks,’ said Lee. ‘Within the Russian military, complaints have reportedly surfaced that the North Korean troops, due to their lack of knowledge about drones, are more of a burden than an asset.’ Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation in Kyiv, said: ‘The Russians’ tactics in the Kursk direction are as follows – North Korean soldiers are being accumulated in the woodland and driven to storm narrow sections in several directions at the same time. ‘Their losses are significant.

Meanwhile, Zelensky claimed to have evidence of Russian soldiers masking and even burning the faces of dead North Korean troops to conceal their identities. In one piece of footage shared on the Telegram messaging app, a North Korean soldier appeared to wave to the camera as a Russian voice said: ‘Tell him to put on a mask… put on a mask.’ He shared images of a Russian soldier leaning over a body and setting it alight, with flames seen licking up from the corpse’s head. Zelensky said: ‘Russia is not only involving North Korean soldiers in assaults on Ukrainian positions, but also trying to hide the losses of these people.

‘There were attempts to keep the presence of soldiers from North Korea a secret. ‘While they were being trained, they were even forbidden to show their faces. The Russian military tried to delete any video evidence of their presence. ‘And now, after the battles with our guys, the Russians are also trying to… literally burn the faces of the killed North Korean soldiers.

‘This is a demonstration of the contempt that now reigns in Russia – contempt for everything human. There is no reason for Koreans to fight and die for Putin. ‘This madness must be stopped – stopped with a reliable and lasting peace and Russia’s responsibility for this cynical war,’ he concluded. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky previously said North Korean troops had been at the heart of an ‘intensive offensive’ in Kursk.

North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow ‘s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A landmark defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June came into force earlier this month. Experts say North Korea’s Kim is keen to acquire advanced technology from Russia and battle experience for his troops.

Pyongyang on Thursday lashed out at what it called ‘reckless provocation’ by the United States and its allies for a joint statement criticizing North Korea’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, including the deployment of troops. A foreign ministry spokesman said the 10 nations and the European Union (EU) were ‘distorting and slandering’ Pyongyang’s ‘normal cooperative’ ties with Moscow, according to state media.

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