Seoul stresses at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers killed or injured in Ukraine

Information from Seoul’s spy agency apparently indicates that around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and another 2,700 soldiers injured in Ukraine as they fight alongside Russian troops as part of a ‘special military operation’.

South Korea had earlier claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine, in return for Russia’s technical assistance for his country’s sanctioned arms and satellite programmes.

Recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that his country had captured a couple of North Korean soldiers, releasing a video of the people being interrogated and raising the possibility of a prisoner exchange for captured Ukrainian troops.

But Seoul has also highlighted that North Korean soldiers have been ordered to commit suicide or self-detonate before capture rather than be taken prisoner. The NIS analysis also found that these soldiers lack an understanding of modern armed conflict.