600 North Korean soldiers killed fighting for Russia South Korean lawmaker

SEOUL – Around 600 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia against Ukraine have been killed and thousands more wounded, a Seoul lawmaker said on April 30, after Pyongyang officially confirmed deploying troops to aid Moscow.

“So far, North Korean troop casualties are estimated at around 4,700, including approximately 600 deaths,” Mr Lee Seong-kweun, a member of Parliament’s intelligence committee, told reporters after a briefing by the country’s spy agency.

North Korea confirmed for the first time on April 28 that it had deployed troops to Russia, with state news agency KCNA reporting Pyongyang’s soldiers helped Moscow reclaim territory under Ukrainian control in the Russian border region of Kursk.

Moscow had separately confirmed North Korea’s participation after months of official silence from both countries, even as Seoul and Washington accused Pyongyang of sending ever more troops and weapons to help.

Some 2,000 soldiers have been taken back to nuclear-armed North Korea in 2025, Mr Lee said, and were now reportedly being held in isolation in Pyongyang and at other locations across the country.

“It is understood that the bodies of fallen soldiers were cremated locally in Kursk before being transported” back to the North, he added.

North Korea “supported Russia’s recapture of Kursk by deploying 18,000 troops in two phases”, Mr Lee said, adding that the number of clashes in the area had decreased since around March.

Since then, “there have been reports of misconduct within North Korean forces, including excessive drinking and theft”, he said.

Combat capability ‘significantly improved’

South Korea has repeatedly slammed the troop deployment and criticised the North for sending container-loads of weapons, including missiles, to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The nuclear-armed North has received significant technical support from Russia in return, Seoul claimed.

In addition, after six months of fighting, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service