About 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 wounded while fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine, a South Korean lawmaker said, citing information from Seoul's spy agency.
Seoul has previously alleged that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent more than 10,000 soldiers to help Moscow fight Kiev in exchange for Russian technical assistance for Pyongyang's heavily sanctioned weapons and satellite programs.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Kiev had captured two North Korean soldiers, releasing a video of the interrogation of the wounded fighters and raising the possibility of a prisoner swap for the captured Ukrainian soldiers.
"The deployment of North Korean troops in Russia has reportedly expanded to include the Kursk region, with estimates of casualties among North Korean forces exceeding 3,000," lawmaker Lee Seong-keun said after a spy agency briefing, AFP reported.
That includes "approximately 300 deaths and 2,700 wounded," Lee said after a briefing by Seoul's National Intelligence Service.
The soldiers, reportedly from North Korea's elite Storm Corps, were ordered to commit suicide rather than be taken prisoner, Li explained.
"In particular, notes found on dead soldiers indicate that North Korean authorities pressured them to commit suicide or blow themselves up before they were captured," he said.
He added that some of the soldiers had been granted "amnesty" or wanted to join North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, hoping to improve their lot by fighting.
One North Korean soldier who would have been captured shouted "General Kim Jong-un" and tried to detonate a grenade, Li said, adding that he was shot and killed.
The NIS analysis also reveals that North Korean soldiers "do not understand modern warfare" and are being used by Russia in a way leading to "a large number of casualties". | BGNES
