This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
North Korea has sent more soldiers to Russia and redeployed several to the front line in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, Seoul’s intelligence agency said on February 27.
The scale of the contingent was not immediately known, South Korea’s YTN television reported, citing the intelligence agency.
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said that about 11,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to Russia last year to help it fight a Ukrainian offensive into the Kursk border region.
Seoul said earlier this month that North Korean soldiers previously fighting alongside Russia forces on the Kursk front line had not been in combat since mid-January. Ukraine said they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.
An official from Seoul’s National Intelligence Agency was quoted by AFP as saying that said they had been “redeployed” to the region.
“Some additional troop deployments” appear to have taken place, the official added. “The exact scale is still being assessed.”
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have confirmed the deployment.
But the two countries signed an agreement, including a mutual defense clause, when Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to North Korea last year.
Some intelligence sources have said many of the troops that arrived in Kursk last year have been rotated out of the front lines after suffering horrific losses in fighting against Ukrainian forces.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on February 8 vowed to maintain his country’s support for Russia in the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the same day that Russia’s “cooperation with North Korea will continue to expand.”
