600 North Korea troops killed, among 4 700 casualties fighting for Russia
North Korean casualties are estimated at 4 700, said a South Korean official.
It added that about 600 had died fighting for Russia.
North Korea received technical support from Russia in return, said South Korea.
Around 600 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia against Ukraine have been killed and thousands more wounded, a Seoul lawmaker said on Wednesday, after Pyongyang officially confirmed deploying troops to aid Moscow.
"So far, North Korean troop casualties are estimated at around 4 700, including approximately 600 deaths," MP Lee Seong-kweun, a member of parliament's intelligence committee, told reporters after a briefing by the country's spy agency.
North Korea confirmed for the first time on Monday that it had deployed troops to Russia, with state news agency KCNA reporting Pyongyang's soldiers helped Moscow reclaim territory under Ukrainian control in the Russian border region of Kursk.
Moscow had separately confirmed the North's participation, after months of official silence from both countries, even as Seoul and Washington accused Pyongyang of sending ever more troops and weapons to help.
READ | North Korea sends an extra 3 000 troops to help Russia fight Ukraine war
Some 2 000 soldiers have been taken back to nuclear-armed North Korea this year, Lee said, and were now reportedly being held in isolation in Pyongyang and at other locations across the country.
"It is understood that the bodies of fallen soldiers were cremated locally in Kursk before being transported," back to the North, he added.
AFP
North Korea "supported Russia's recapture of Kursk by deploying 18 000 troops in two phases", Lee said, adding that the number of clashes in the area had decreased since around March.
Since then, "there have been reports of misconduct within North Korean forces, including excessive drinking and theft," he said.
South Korea has repeatedly slammed the troop deployment, and criticised the North for sending container-loads of weapons, including missiles, to aid Russia's war against Ukraine.
The nuclear-armed North has received significant technical support from Russia in return, Seoul claimed.
In addition, after six months of fighting, Seoul's National Intelligence Service estimates that the North Korean forces' "combat capability has significantly improved", Lee said.
He said:
Early inexperience has diminished and they have become more proficient in using new weapon systems, including drones.
Lee said it was not possible to "entirely rule out" that the North could send more soldiers to Russia.
The troops sent to Russia, reportedly from North Korea's elite Storm Corps, have been ordered to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, Seoul has previously said.
Moscow and Pyongyang have boosted their military cooperation since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
AFP
The two countries signed a sweeping military deal in 2024, including a mutual defence clause, when Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to North Korea.
Pyongyang launched a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
Experts have warned that the nuclear-armed North may be testing weapons for export to Russia for use against Ukraine.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
18 minutes ago
- Politico
Ukrainian delegation to brief senators amid Russia sanctions push
A Ukrainian delegation is set to brief U.S. senators Wednesday as lawmakers weigh a sweeping sanctions bill targeting Russia and its biggest energy customers, China and India. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who told POLITICO he organized the meeting with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said all 100 senators were invited to attend the closed-door session. 'It's a pivotal moment in Ukraine — and crunch time for the Senate on this bill,' said Blumenthal, noting that the legislation now has 82 co-sponsors, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. The visiting delegation, he told POLITICO, includes Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Serhii Boyev, is traveling with Yermack. The sanctions package from Blumenthal and Graham is designed to increase pressure on Russia's wartime economy by targeting countries that buy oil and gas — a move Blumenthal said could be a 'game changer.' He also pointed to recent long-range drone attacks deep inside Russia — dubbed 'Operation Spiderweb' — as evidence of Ukraine's agility and resolve. Those strikes, he said, counter 'a false narrative that Ukraine is losing the war,' and could shift momentum in Washington in favor of increasing aid for Ukraine.'They can strike air bases 4,000 miles from Ukraine; They can hit anywhere,' Blumenthal said. 'Just in the skill and audacity of these attacks, it will rank with the United States raid on Osama bin Laden and the Israeli pager operation as one of the great military achievements in recent years.' Blumenthal said the White House remains hesitant to support the sanctions bill, but the battlefield momentum could sway President Donald Trump and skeptical lawmakers. 'Events will move the White House — and maybe some of the president's friends here,' he said, referring to Graham. 'Congress can … move ahead. [Trump] doesn't have to support it.'
22 minutes ago
Hegseth will skip a meeting on organizing military aid to Ukraine in a first for the US
WASHINGTON -- For the first time since the U.S. created an international group to coordinate military aid to Ukraine three years ago, America's Pentagon chief will not be in attendance when more than 50 other defense leaders meet Wednesday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who returned from a national security conference in Singapore on Sunday, will not arrive in Brussels until Wednesday evening, after the Ukraine Defense Contact Group's meeting is over. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss scheduling details, confirmed that Hegseth also will not participate by video conference. It is the latest in a series of steps that the U.S. has taken to distance itself from the Ukraine war effort. And it comes on the heels of French President Emmanuel Macron's warning at the security conference last weekend that the U.S. and others risk a dangerous double standard if their concentration on a potential conflict with China is done at the cost of abandoning Ukraine. France and other NATO nations are concerned that the U.S. is considering withdrawing troops from Europe to shift them to the Indo-Pacific. Macron said abandoning Ukraine would eventually erode U.S. credibility in deterring any potential conflict with China over Taiwan. Hegseth's predecessor, Lloyd Austin, created the group after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Since then, more than 50 member nations have collectively provided Ukraine with some $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including over $66.5 billion from the U.S. Under Austin's leadership, the U.S. served as chair of the group, and he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff attended monthly meetings, which were both in person and by video. Hegseth has upended that position by stepping away from a leadership role, providing no new military aid and now abandoning the gathering altogether. During his first meeting with the group and a subsequent NATO defense ministers gathering in Brussels in February, Hegseth warned that Ukraine should abandon its NATO bid and its push to reclaim all Russian-occupied territory. And he signaled that President Donald Trump is determined to get Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for Ukraine's defense. Since Trump took office, there have been no new announcements of U.S. military or weapons aid to Ukraine. Hegseth also turned leadership of the group over to Germany and the United Kingdom. While he will not attend Wednesday's session, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command and NATO's supreme allied commander, will be there. In Washington, meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian delegation led by First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko is in town for talks about defense, sanctions and postwar recovery, said Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office. The Ukrainians met with U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, discussing recent talks with the Russians and conditions on the battlefield, Yermak posted on social media. Svyrydenko and Yermak also are expected to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials Wednesday.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hegseth will skip a meeting on organizing military aid to Ukraine in a first for the US
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time since the U.S. created an international group to coordinate military aid to Ukraine three years ago, America's Pentagon chief will not be in attendance when more than 50 other defense leaders meet Wednesday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who returned from a national security conference in Singapore on Sunday, will not arrive in Brussels until Wednesday evening, after the Ukraine Defense Contact Group's meeting is over. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss scheduling details, confirmed that Hegseth also will not participate by video conference. It is the latest in a series of steps that the U.S. has taken to distance itself from the Ukraine war effort. And it comes on the heels of French President Emmanuel Macron's warning at the security conference last weekend that the U.S. and others risk a dangerous double standard if their concentration on a potential conflict with China is done at the cost of abandoning Ukraine. France and other NATO nations are concerned that the U.S. is considering withdrawing troops from Europe to shift them to the Indo-Pacific. Macron said abandoning Ukraine would eventually erode U.S. credibility in deterring any potential conflict with China over Taiwan. Hegseth's predecessor, Lloyd Austin, created the group after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Since then, more than 50 member nations have collectively provided Ukraine with some $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including over $66.5 billion from the U.S. Under Austin's leadership, the U.S. served as chair of the group, and he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff attended monthly meetings, which were both in person and by video. Hegseth has upended that position by stepping away from a leadership role, providing no new military aid and now abandoning the gathering altogether. During his first meeting with the group and a subsequent NATO defense ministers gathering in Brussels in February, Hegseth warned that Ukraine should abandon its NATO bid and its push to reclaim all Russian-occupied territory. And he signaled that President Donald Trump is determined to get Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for Ukraine's defense. Since Trump took office, there have been no new announcements of U.S. military or weapons aid to Ukraine. Hegseth also turned leadership of the group over to Germany and the United Kingdom. While he will not attend Wednesday's session, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command and NATO's supreme allied commander, will be there. In Washington, meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian delegation led by First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko is in town for talks about defense, sanctions and postwar recovery, said Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office. The Ukrainians met with U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, discussing recent talks with the Russians and conditions on the battlefield, Yermak posted on social media. Svyrydenko and Yermak also are expected to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials Wednesday. ___ Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.
