Intelligence report comes days after Ukraine’s president mentioned almost 3,000 North Korean troopers have been ‘killed or wounded’ in fight.
A North Korean soldier, who was combating for Russia, has died in Ukrainian captivity because of extreme wounds, in response to South Korea’s spy company.
The announcement by the Nationwide Intelligence Service in Seoul got here on Friday, hours after the Yonhap information company cited the company as confirming for the primary time that Ukrainian forces had captured a North Korean soldier. The report mentioned he was alive, although the situation the place he was seized was not recognized.
Pyongyang has deployed hundreds of troops to strengthen Russia’s navy, particularly to the Kursk border area the place Ukraine mounted a shock border incursion in August.
Affirmation of the soldier’s loss of life got here days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that just about 3,000 North Korean troopers had been “killed or wounded” as far as they joined Russian troops in fight.
It marked the primary vital estimate by Ukraine of North Korean casualties a number of weeks after Kyiv introduced that North Korea had despatched 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to assist it within the virtually three-year warfare.
Ukraine’s navy intelligence, recognized below its acronym GUR, mentioned heavy casualties had been inflicted on North Korean items by Ukrainian strikes close to Novoivanovka in Kursk, provide points and even shortages of consuming water.
Strengthened ties
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their navy ties since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
A landmark defence pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June got here into drive this month, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hailing it as a “breakthrough doc”.
Ukraine’s allies have referred to as Pyongyang’s rising involvement in Russia’s warfare in Ukraine a “harmful enlargement” of the battle.
South Korean politician Lee Seong-kweun mentioned final week that Pyongyang’s troopers have been being “utilised as expendable front-line assault items”.