In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Dec. 27, 2024, Russian soldiers battle outside Vuhledar, Donbas region, Ukraine.
VOICE OF AMERICA | Published December 27, 2024
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —
A North Korean soldier who was captured while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine has died of his wounds, South Korea’s spy agency said Friday.
Pyongyang has deployed thousands of troops to reinforce Russia’s military, including in the Kursk border region where Ukraine mounted a shock border incursion in August.
One of those North Korean soldiers was captured alive by the Ukrainian army on Thursday, a South Korean intelligence source told AFP, adding that the location where he was seized was not known.
Hours later, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that the soldier had succumbed to his wounds.
“It has been confirmed through an allied intelligence agency that the North Korean soldier captured alive on December 26th has just passed away due to worsening wounds,” the South’s spy agency said in a statement.
Friday’s confirmation came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been “killed or wounded” so far as they joined Russian troops in combat.
South Korea’s intelligence service had previously put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 1,000, saying the high casualty rate could be down to an unfamiliar battlefield environment and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks.
Pyongyang’s soldiers were also being “utilized as expendable front-line assault units,” lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun said, speaking last week after a briefing by South Korea’s spy agency.
‘Dangerous expansion’
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A landmark defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June came into force this month, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hailing it as a “breakthrough document.”
North Korean state media said Friday that Putin sent a New Year’s message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying “the bilateral ties between our two countries have been elevated after our talks in June in Pyongyang.”
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.voanews.com
RELATED: 30 North Korean soldiers killed, injured in Kursk Oblast assaults, Ukraine’s intelligence claims
THE KYIV INDEPENDENT | Published December 9, 2024
At least thirty North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded during assault operations in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) claimed on Dec. 16.
Following the attacks that took place on Dec. 14-15 near the villages of Pliekhovo, Vorozhba, and Martynovka, North Korean losses have to be replenished by fresh soldiers from North Korea’s 94th Separate Brigade, HUR claimed. Three soldiers also reportedly went missing.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify HUR’s claims.
Ukrainian and Western officials warned in the fall that over 10,000 North Korean troops had amassed in Kursk Oblast, ready to aid Russia’s attempt to oust Ukrainian forces in the region. The move represents an unprecedented escalation in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The first limited clashes between North Korean and Ukrainian troops in Kursk Oblast were reported in early November, with North Korean soldiers recently joining ground assault operations.
North Korean troops also allegedly opened fire and killed eight Russian soldiers on Dec. 14 in a “friendly-fire” incident.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.kyivindependent.com
RELATED: Ukraine claims North Korean troops were killed as they fought alongside Russian forces
FILE – A serviceman of the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine fires Giatsint-B gun towards Russian positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
THE ECONOMIC TIMES | Published December 9, 2024
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency claimed Monday that around 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded in fighting against the Ukrainian army at the weekend in Russia’s Kursk border region.
The North Korean casualties occurred around three villages in Kursk, where Russia has for four months been trying to quash a Ukrainian incursion, the agency, known by its acronym GUR, said in a public post on the Telegram messaging app.
At least three North Korean servicemen went missing around another Kursk village, GUR said.
It was not possible to independently verify the Ukrainian claims, which are the first reports of North Korean casualties in the almost 3-year war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred questions about the claims to the Russian Defense Ministry, which didn’t comment.
North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to help it in the war, according to the Pentagon and Ukrainian officials.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.economictimes.com
Be the first to comment