North Korea appears to have sent more troops to Russia to back its war against Ukraine, Seoul says

SEOUL – South Korea’s spy company mentioned Wednesday that North Korea seems to have despatched additional troops to Russia, after its soldiers deployed on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties.

The Nationwide Intelligence Service mentioned in a short assertion it was making an attempt to find out precisely what number of extra troops North Korea has deployed to Russia.

The NIS additionally assessed that North Korean troops have been redeployed at fronts in Russia’s Kursk area within the first week of February, following a reported non permanent withdrawal from the world. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an deal with on Feb. 7, confirmed a brand new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk and mentioned North Korean troops have been preventing alongside Russian forces there.

North Korea has been supplying an enormous quantity of conventional weapons to Russia, and final fall it despatched about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia as nicely, in response to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officers. North Korean soldiers are extremely disciplined and nicely educated, however observers say they’ve grow to be straightforward targets for drone and artillery assaults on Russian-Ukraine battlefields attributable to their lack of fight expertise and unfamiliarity with the terrain.

In January, the NIS mentioned about 300 North Korean troopers had died and one other 2,700 had been injured. Zelenskyy earlier put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, although U.S. estimates have been decrease at round 1,200.

Earlier Wednesday, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that an extra 1,000-3,000 North Korean troopers have been deployed to Kursk between January and February.

South Korea, the U.S. and their companions fear that Russia may reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that may sharply improve its nuclear weapons program. North Korea is predicted to obtain financial and different assistance from Russia as nicely.

Throughout talks in Saudi Arabia final week, Russia and the U.S. agreed to start working toward ending the war and enhancing their diplomatic and financial ties. Ukrainian officers weren’t current on the talks. That marked a rare shift in U.S. international coverage beneath President Donald Trump and a transparent departure from U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its battle in Ukraine.

Observers say North Korean chief Kim Jong Un may ship extra troops to Russia to win additional Russian help earlier than the battle ends.