Seoul Says About 300 Soldiers From N. Korea Killed Fighting Ukraine

Around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 injured while fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine, a South Korean lawmaker said on Jan. 13, citing information from the country's spy agency.

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South Korea previously claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had sent more than 10,000 soldiers as "cannon fodder" to help Moscow fight Kyiv, in return for Russian technical assistance for Pyongyang's heavily sanctioned weapons and satellite programmes.

At the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had captured two North Korean soldiers, releasing video of the injured combatants being interrogated and raising the possibility of a prisoner swap for captured Ukrainian troops.

"The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia has reportedly expanded to include the Kursk region, with estimates suggesting that casualties among North Korean forces have surpassed 3,000," lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after a briefing from the spy agency.

This includes "approximately 300 deaths and 2,700 injuries," Mr Lee said following the briefing from Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS).

The soldiers, reportedly from North Korea's elite Storm Corps, have been ordered to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, he said.