Seoul says 300 North Korean soldiers killed, 2,700 injured fighting in Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine war News

The number of victims of North Koreans helping Russia is ‘more than 3,000’, according to South Korea’s intelligence service.

About 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed while fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine, South Korea’s legislature has said.

The addition of 300 dead is about “2,700 injured”, Lee Seong-kweun told reporters on Monday, after a National Intelligence Service (NIS) briefing in Seoul.

“North Korean military deployments to Russia have reportedly expanded to include the Kursk region, and estimates suggest North Korean military casualties have exceeded 3,000,” Lee said.

The NIS analysis also revealed that North Korea’s military “lacks understanding of modern warfare” and is being used by Russia in a way that leads to “many casualties”, the lawmaker said.

The South Korean politician’s statement comes days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had captured two North Korean soldiers, and released a video of the wounded soldiers being interrogated.

Zelenskyy said Kyiv is “ready to hand over” captured North Korean soldiers in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia.

Seoul has said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent more than 10,000 troops as “cannon fodder” to help Moscow fight Kyiv, in exchange for Russian technical assistance with highly Pyongyang-approved weapons and satellite systems.

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their existence.

There is no desire to make a mistake

The NIS said the two captured soldiers did not express a request to leave or stay in South Korea, according to two members of the legislature who attended Monday’s briefing.

The organization said it is willing to negotiate with the Ukrainian authorities if the soldiers eventually ask to go to South Korea.

An estimated 34,000 North Koreans defected to capitalist rival South Korea to escape economic hardship and political repression at home, particularly since the late 1990s.

Koo Byoungsam, a spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry in charge of Korean affairs, said that facilitating the asylum of North Korean soldiers would require “legal review, including international law, and consultation with related nations”.

“We have nothing to say at the moment,” said Koo.

In addition, the soldiers, reportedly from North Korea’s elite Storm Corps, were ordered to kill themselves rather than be arrested, Lee said.

“What is important is that the memos found on the dead soldiers show that the North Korean authorities pressured them to kill themselves or blow themselves up before they were captured,” he said.

He added that some soldiers have been granted “amnesty” or want to join the Workers’ Party of North Korea, hoping to improve their status by fighting.

Another North Korean soldier who was about to be captured shouted “General Kim Jong Un” and tried to detonate the bomb, Lee said, adding that he was shot dead.