South Korea’s military has voiced suspicion about North Korea planning to deploy additional troops to Russia to support its fight against Ukraine, despite previous setbacks, including casualties and the capture of some of its soldiers.
“As four months have passed for the dispatch of troops for the Russia-Ukraine war, and multiple casualties and captives have occurred, (North Korea) is suspected to be accelerating follow-up measures and preparation for an additional dispatch of troops,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
The JCS analysis did not specify what other follow-up measures Pyongyang might take.
North Korea is also preparing to launch a spy satellite and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), though there were no signs of immediate action, the JCS said.
Zelenskyy Offers Soldier Exchange
This month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said two North Korean soldiers had been captured in Russia’s Kursk region, marking the first time Ukraine had taken North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the war last autumn.
Zelenskyy also said he was ready to hand over captured North Korean soldiers to their leader Kim Jong Un in exchange for Ukrainians held in Russia.
“In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others,” Zelenskyy said on the social media platform X earlier this month.
Heavy Casualties
Pyongyang has deployed about 11,000 soldiers to support Moscow’s forces in Russia’s western Kursk region, according to Ukrainian and Western assessments, which Ukraine seized in a surprise attack last year.
Ukraine said Russian and North Korean forces suffered “heavy losses” in the Kursk region fight. More than 3,000 have been killed or wounded, according to Kyiv.
About 300 North Korean troops deployed to Russia have been killed with another 2,700 injured in combat against Ukrainian forces, with their rising number of casualties attributed to a lack of understanding of modern warfare and “the way Russia used the North Korean military”, a South Korean lawmaker briefed by the country’s spy agency earlier in January.
Although Moscow and Pyongyang initially dismissed reports about the North Korea’s troop deployment, Russian President Vladimir Putin in October did not deny that North Korean soldiers were in Russia and a North Korean official said any such deployment would be lawful.
Putin’s Visit To Pyongyang
The escalating cooperation comes after Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June 2024, where the leaders signed a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty”, which includes a mutual defence pact.
(With inputs from Reuters)
