South Korea claims at least 100 North Korean soldiers killed, 1,000 wounded in Russia-Ukraine war

Another 1,000 of Pyongyang’s soldiers have been injured, South Korean MP Lee Sung-kwon told reporters, connecting the high casualty rates to the lack of experience with terrain and drone warfare.

The comments come after an undisclosed U.S. official estimated for the media that “a couple of hundred” of North Korean troops have been injured or killed since joining combat earlier this month.

Pyongyang has dispatched over 10,000 of its soldiers to help oust Ukrainian troops fighting in Russia’s Kursk Oblast since early August, Kyiv and Western officials said.

“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,” Lee Sung-kwon said in comments quoted by the BBC.

After reporting initial but limited clashes with North Korean troops in the fall, Ukraine said that in December, Russia also began using the soldiers in ground assaults.

The full extent of North Korean losses might be hard to ascertain, as President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia is trying to hide the casualties.

Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder confirmed on Dec. 16 that North Korean personnel had engaged in combat operations alongside Russian troops in Kursk Oblast and suffered their first losses.