North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observes field training in this image released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, March 7, 2024. (KCNA)
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea appears to have deployed additional troops to Russia this month to reinforce Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, South Korean media outlets reported Thursday, citing the South’s National Intelligence Service.
The Seoul-based spy agency is assessing how many North Korean forces were sent to the Kursk region of Russia in the first week of February after a monthlong pause in deployments, according to an agency statement cited Thursday by Yonhap News.
Between 1,000 and 3,000 North Korean troops were sent on Russian cargo ships and military aircraft between January and February, multiple unnamed sources told the JoongAng Ilbo in a separate report Thursday.
The newspaper, citing unidentified sources, also reported that Russia’s military has repeatedly asked North Korea to accept the remains of its service members killed on the battlefield, but it has so far refused.
The South Korean military continues to track North Korea’s troop deployments, South Korean army Col. Lee Sung-jun, a Joint Chiefs spokesman, said during a news conference Thursday at the Ministry of National Defense. He declined to comment on the reports.
Between 10,000 and 12,000 North Korean troops are estimated to have deployed to Russia as early as October to fight in the three-year conflict, according to the U.S. and Ukrainian militaries. Of those, roughly 3,000 were killed or wounded during the fighting, South Korean lawmakers said in January, citing a closed-door briefing by the intelligence service.
“New assaults” were occurring in Kursk and North Korean soldiers were being “brought in again,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address on Feb. 7.
“A significant number of occupiers have been eliminated — we’re talking hundreds of Russian and North Korean servicemen,” he said.
A North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces said he and about 100 others arrived in Russia by ferry, according to an edited video interview posted on Zelenskyy’s X account in January.
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency has yet to confirm its troops have been deployed to Russia.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin last met in June in Pyongyang, where they agreed to provide mutual military aid if either were at war.
On Monday, the U.S. joined North Korea, Iran and 15 other countries in voting against a U.N. General Assembly resolution drafted by Ukraine that blamed Russia for the “devastating and long-lasting” war; the resolution passed with 93 votes in favor.
An amended resolution drafted by the U.S. acknowledging “the tragic loss of life through the Russian Federation-Ukraine conflict,” but without recognizing Moscow as the aggressor, was adopted by the assembly and the U.N. Security Council the same day.
