Recent reports suggest that North Korean troops are fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, believing they are battling both Ukrainian and South Korean forces, according to the Kyiv Independent.
This claim comes from two captured North Korean soldiers who spoke to South Korean newspaper Chosun Daily from a Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camp.
One of the prisoners said they were told South Korean troops were operating Ukrainian drones.
This belief made them fight more aggressively, thinking they were facing an old enemy.
Another prisoner described how their battalion, made up of about 500 soldiers, was closely monitored by officers from North Korea’s State Security Ministry.
These officers were responsible for discipline and ideological training.
According to the captives, up to 12,000 North Korean troops were sent to Kursk last fall. Their journey took months.
One group of 2,500 soldiers left North Korea in October 2024, traveling by train, then by plane, and finally by bus before reaching Kursk in mid-December.
The second prisoner, a trained sniper, said they had little direct contact with Russian forces. The only interactions happened at the command level when receiving weapons, supplies, and equipment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reported that North Korean forces fighting for Russia have suffered heavy losses.
He estimated that 4,000 North Koreans had been killed or wounded, with two-thirds of the casualties being fatalities.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said these high losses were due to North Korea’s lack of combat experience and their use of human wave attacks with little equipment.
Ukraine launched an offensive into Kursk Oblast in August 2024, initially seizing 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of Russian territory.
Since then, Russian counterattacks have forced Ukraine to give up about half of that land.
However, Ukrainian forces recently advanced another 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) in their latest push.
These reports add a new dimension to the ongoing war. They also raise questions about North Korea’s role in the conflict and how much control Russia actually has over the troops fighting on its behalf.
