Several hundred North Korean troops have been killed or injured fighting for Russia against Ukraine, a senior US military official has said.
Speaking on Tuesday, the official did not specify how many had died but said the number of casualties was high because Pyongyang’s soldiers were not battle-hardened.
The disclosure comes weeks after Ukrainian and Western sources confirmed that North Korea had sent around 10,000 soldiers to aid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war efforts. In return for weapons and military personnel, Moscow is sending oil to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, experts have said.
Kim’s troops are stationed in Russia’s Kursk region, where they are helping Putin’s army with its attempt to retake land seized by Ukraine in a surprise cross-border offensive in early August. Moscow has managed to recapture about 20% of the territory it lost there this summer, according to the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The North Korean forces are largely fighting in infantry positions along with Russian units, the White House and the Pentagon said on Monday.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted footage of what he said were North Korean troops in action. He added that there was “not a single reason for North Koreans to die in this war”.
It is unclear if Pyongyang intends to send more troops to Russia. But Moscow is losing 1,200 soldiers a day to death or injury, according to US estimates.
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Ukraine is also suffering significant losses. Zelenskyy recently admitted that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died and 370,000 have been wounded since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
With US President-elect Donald Trump preparing to enter the White House on 20 January for his second presidential term, uncertainty hangs over the war in Ukraine.
Trump has promised to bring an end to the conflict. However, he has yet to lay out a plan on how to achieve this.
On Tuesday, a senior US defence official hinted that the Defence Department is unlikely to send a pledged $5.6 billion (€5.3bn) in weapons and equipment stock to Ukraine before Trump’s inauguration in January.
