At least 100 North Koreans have died during the war in Ukraine, according to South Korea

At least 100 North Korean soldiers have been killed in combat in Ukraine since joining the battle on the side of Russia earlier this month, a South Korean lawmaker said.

Lee Sung-kwon, speaking to reporters after the country’s National Intelligence Service briefed parliament, said another 1,000 people were injured.

According to him, among the dead were high-ranking officials, and this can be explained by the fact that the military does not know the terrain and does not know drones.

The first reports of casualties in North Korea appeared earlier this week. In October, it was revealed that the North had sent 10,000 troops to help Russia’s military effort.

On Monday, a US Pentagon spokesman said the North Koreans had been killed without specifying the number, and a day later an unnamed US official said there were “several hundred” killed and wounded.

The BBC has not independently verified the claims.

The North Korean military, none of whom will have any previous combat experience, are believed to have spent their first weeks in Russia in training and then in support roles.

The losses are believed to have occurred in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainians are defending a small area of ​​territory seized during sudden invasion in August.

Last Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had begun using a “significant number” of North Koreans in its attacks on Kursk.

It is believed that they were not deployed in Ukraine itself, where Russian troops have been advancing in the eastern regions of the country in recent months.

Lee Sung-kwon said there are reports of preparations for an additional deployment, and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may be watching the preparations.

He quoted intelligence officials as saying that the high number of casualties could be attributed to the “unfamiliar battlefield environment where North Korean troops are used as expendable assault units and their lack of ability to counter drone attacks.”

“The Russian military has reportedly complained that North Korean forces are more of a liability than an asset due to their lack of knowledge about drones,” he added.

Neither Russia nor North Korea acknowledged the troop deployment, but a North Korean statement on Thursday, carried by state news agency KCNA, said the country’s alliance with Moscow “constrains the US and the West from unintended expansion of influence.”