A thousand hundred North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured in the war with Russia Ukraineand Pyongyang may be preparing to deploy more troops North Korean soldiers to the regionSouth Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said this on Monday. The information follows a report from Seoul’s spy agency last week, which said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering combat in December.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian army, including to the Kursk border area, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.
“Based on various sources of information and intelligence, we estimate that North Korean forces recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces suffered approximately 1,100 casualties,” the JCS said in a statement.
“We are particularly interested in the possibility of additional deployment” of North Korean soldiers to support the Russian war effort, the JCS said, adding that Pyongyang is reportedly “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers.”
According to the JCS, the intelligence also suggests that nuclear-armed North Korea is “producing and supplying self-destructible drones” to Russia to further aid Moscow in its fight against Ukraine, and that North Korea is “providing 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery.” for the Russian army.
Seoul’s military said North Korea wants to modernize its conventional warfare capabilities based on combat experience in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“This could lead to an increase in the North’s military threat to us,” the report said.
The latest findings are consistent with a report from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, which informed lawmakers that “Russia could provide reciprocal benefits” for North Korea’s military contributions, including “modernizing North Korea’s conventional weapons. ”
North Korean and Russian military ties
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 keen to acquire advanced technology from Russia and gain experience for his troops.
Pyongyang on Thursday lashed out at what it called a “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.
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 would not rule out “the possibility of supplying weapons” to Ukraine, which would mark a significant change in long-standing policy banning arms sales to countries in prohibits an active conflict.
North Korea builds new border fence
The North Korean military was also seen building a new fence stretching 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 a goat in front of barbed wire fences.
The strengthening of border security in the North had been “underway for eight months, with as many as 10,000 soldiers mobilized,” a military official told reporters.
The heightened security measures are intended to “prevent the defection of North Korean citizens and soldiers to the South,” the JCS said in its report.
The North has also been launched around 7,000 waste-bearing balloons The South has been invaded 32 times since May, the Seoul military said.
Activist groups in South Korea have long sent propaganda to the North, usually carried by balloons, including leaflets, U.S. dollar bills and sometimes USB drives containing K-pop or K-dramas, which are banned in the tightly controlled North.
Pyongyang denounces such activities, saying the balloon offensive is retaliation for the activists’ propaganda efforts.
Although Pyongyang has refrained from launching such balloons since November 29, the Seoul military said “indications of their readiness for a surprise launch at multiple locations have been observed.”
