Around 2,000 North Korean soldiers sent to help Russia fight in Ukraine are believed to have been killed, South Korea’s spy agency said Tuesday, according to a lawmaker.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in April that at least 600 North Korean soldiers had died. But after updating their assessments, the agency now estimates the number is closer to 2,000, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters following a briefing.
South Korean and Western intelligence reports say North Korea sent over 10,000 soldiers to Russia in 2024—mostly to the Kursk region—along with artillery shells, missiles, and long-range rocket systems.
Lawmaker Lee added that the NIS believes Pyongyang plans to send another 6,000 soldiers and engineers to Russia, with around 1,000 already having arrived.
“It is assessed that out of the recent third deployment plan of 6,000 troops, around 1,000 combat engineers have arrived in Russia,” Lee said.
Earlier this year, Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said North Korea would send builders and deminers to the Kursk region.
North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine in April and admitted some soldiers had died in combat.
Since then, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met with families of the soldiers who were killed and offered condolences for their “unbearable pain.” State media have shown images of Kim embracing a returning soldier who appeared overwhelmed, kneeling before a fallen soldier’s portrait, and placing medals and flowers beside images of the dead.
Last year, Russia and North Korea signed a military deal that included a mutual defense clause during a rare visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea.
