1,000 North Korean Soldiers Killed in Fighting in Ukraine

Western officials have told the BBC that North Korean troops have already suffered a massive 40% loss in fighting in the Kursk region, Russia, in just three months.

Of the 11,000 troops deployed from North Korea, known as the DPRK (People’s Republic of Korea), 4,000 were wounded, killed or captured and 1,000 are thought to have been killed by January.

Of the 4,000, officials said that about 1,000 are expected to be killed by mid-January.

These losses, if confirmed, are so great that North Korea will have challenges maintaining its forces in the ongoing fighting.

However, these figures show the high cost being paid by President Vladimir Putin’s ally, Kim Jong Un, as he tries to help him withdraw Ukrainian forces from Russia ahead of any ceasefire talks later this year.

Ukraine launched a surprise attack in Russia’s Kursk region last August, leaving soldiers patrolling the border by surprise.

The Kyiv government made it clear at the time that they had no intention of controlling the occupied territory, but rather using it as a bargaining chip in future peace talks.

North Korean soldiers are reportedly poorly trained and fighting with outdated tactics, vulnerable to attack by drones used by Ukraine.

“These are poorly trained soldiers led by Russian officers who don’t know them,” says Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of the British tank force.

However, Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrskyi said the troops continued to pose a major challenge to Ukrainian forces on the front lines of the fighting.

By: BBC