Pyongyang: At least 100 North Korean soldiers have been killed in fighting in the Ukraine war since entering combat on the Russian side earlier this month, a South Korean MP said on Thursday.
Lee Sung-kwon reported that another 1,000 people were injured in a recent attack on parliament, following a briefing by the National Intelligence Service, media reports said.
He said the casualties included high-ranking officials and could be explained by the troops lack of familiarity with the terrain and with drone warfare, BBC reported.
North Korea reported initial casualties earlier this week, following the announcement in October that 10,000 troops had been sent to assist Russia in its war effort.
According to media reports, on Monday a US Pentagon spokesman said North Koreans had been killed, without giving a number, and a day later an unnamed US official said that there had been “several hundred” killed or wounded.
North Korean troops, without combat experience, are believed to have spent their initial weeks in Russia training and then transitioning to support roles.
The casualties are thought to have occurred in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainians are defending a small area of territory captured during a surprise incursion in August.
Last Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had begun to use a “significant number” of North Koreans in its assaults in Kursk, the report said.
They are not thought to have been deployed in Ukraine itself, where Russian troops have been advancing in eastern parts of the country in recent months.
He quoted intelligence officials as saying the high number of casualties could be attributed to an “unfamiliar battlefield environment, where North Korean forces are being utilised as expendable frontline assault units, and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks.”
“Within the Russian military, complaints have reportedly surfaced that the North Korean troops, due to their lack of knowledge about drones, are more of a burden than an asset,” he added.
UNI
