North Korea suffers over 6,000 casualties in Russia

British Defense Intelligence on June 15 estimated that more than 6,000 North Korean troops have likely been killed or wounded while fighting in Russia.

A report posted on X by the UK Ministry of Defense stated that “DPRK forces have highly likely sustained more than 6,000 casualties in offensive combat operations against Ukrainian forces in the Russian oblast of Kursk.” This number accounts for over half of the approximately 11,000 North Korean troops originally deployed to the area, the report added.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had reported in March that about 4,000 North Korean troops were killed or injured in Russia last year. Pyongyang sent an additional 3,000 personnel in January and February this year, according to the JCS.

The UK cited North Korea’s high casualty rate as the result of “large, highly attritional dismounted assault.” British Defense Intelligence uses “highly likely” to indicate a probability of 80 to 90 percent and “almost certainly” for 95 to 100 percent likelihood.

The report also addressed Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu’s visit to Pyongyang on June 4. Shoigu had traveled to North Korea in March to deliver a personal message from President Vladimir Putin. During his June visit, he met again with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss the situation in Kursk and broader strategic cooperation.

Shoigu has “highly likely been a key interlocutor with DPRK regarding Pyongyang’s support to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” the UK Ministry of Defense said.

So far, North Korean operations have remained confined to Kursk, according to the report. It added that any expansion into internationally recognized Ukrainian territory would “almost certainly require sign-off from both Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.”

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the Kursk region, located along the southwestern border, in August last year. Russia began efforts to reclaim the area with North Korean support and in April acknowledged Pyongyang’s troop deployment. Last month, Moscow declared it had “completely liberated Kursk.”


Jeong-Soo Hong hong@donga.com