““A North Korean contingent of approximately 12,000 troops in the Kursk region may be killed or wounded in action by mid-April 2025””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“The entire North Korean contingent of approximately 12,000 troops currently stationed in Kursk Oblast could be killed or wounded in action by mid-April 2025 if North Korean forces continue to suffer their current high casualty rates,” the researchers said.
The institute refers to data from the Ukrainian side about losses among the North Korean military. In particular, at the beginning of January 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the death or injury of 3,800 North Korean servicemen.
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“On November 5, 2024, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umerov stated that North Korean forces took part in “small” clashes in the Kursk region, but on December 6, Russian “militants” began to state that North Korean forces were participating in more significant combat operations. Thus, the North Koreans have likely suffered approximately 92 casualties per day since the start of significant hostilities in early December 2024,” the institute believes.
Analysts also mention data from South Korea’s intelligence agency (NIS), which released data on January 13, according to which 300 North Koreans were killed in hostilities, and another 2,700 were wounded in the Kursk region.
“North Korean forces are likely to continue to suffer a higher ratio of wounded to killed in combat, as is typical of armed conflict — and it is unclear whether wounded North Korean soldiers will return to combat,” the report’s authors added.
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The other day, Ukraine reported the capture by the Defense Forces of two soldiers from North Korea in Kurshchyna. According to the SBU, on January 9, 2025, one of the DPRK soldiers was captured by the fighters of tactical group No. 84 of the SSO, and the other by paratroopers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The capture by the Ukrainian military of two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation was also confirmed by the intelligence agency of South Korea.
It became known about the arrival of the first North Korean troops in Kurshchyna last fall.
According to the USA, South Korea and Ukraine, 10,000 to 12,000 North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia in October. They were involved in the war on the side of Russia, units of the DPRK are used in the Kursk region.
Moscow and Pyongyang did not confirm the direct participation of the North Korean military in the fighting.
Analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that the Kremlin avoids acknowledging the presence of North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region or their participation in hostilities there against Ukrainian forces, in order not to recognize that the Russian Federation needs foreign troops to win back its own territory.