By Galina Korol and AFP | 2025-01-01

KYIV -- The number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in battles with Ukrainian forces appears to be steadily increasing.

Several wounded North Korean soldiers died after being captured by Ukrainian forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on December 27, accusing Russia of throwing them into battle with "minimal protection."

Earlier he said that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been "killed or wounded" so far as they joined Russia's forces in combat in Kursk province, Russia, where Ukraine mounted a shock incursion in August.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) had previously put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 1,000, saying the high casualty rate could be down to an unfamiliar battlefield environment and their inability to counter drone attacks.

The White House December 27 confirmed the South Korean estimates, saying that Pyongyang's troops were being sent to their deaths in futile attacks by generals who see them as "expendable."

"We also have reports of North Korean soldiers taking their own lives rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces, likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they're captured," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Burning off Koreans' faces

A disturbing video from the battlefield appeared on the Telegram channel of Robert Brovdi, a fighter in the Ukrainian army whose call sign is Magyar.

The video recording shows the bodies of 22 fallen Russian and North Korean troops on a field in Kursk province, said Magyar. The image is not an isolated example of large-scale losses among the occupiers, he added.

"After every wave [mass assault], 4-5 Koreans show up in a buggy, 'arrange' the shredded carcasses into a strip, like in the video, and mask the [faces] of the incorrigible," Magyar wrote on December 15 on Telegram under the video he posted.

"The Russians did not give the Koreans enough information about the use of drones on the front. That shows that the North Koreans' lives are of no value to the Russians," Andriy Kovalenko, director of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Telegram December 17.

"At the same time, the Russian army is trying to quickly get the bodies of the dead Koreans away from the front. ... The desire to hide the North Koreans' failures plays a role."

"Russia not only sends the North Korean troops to storm Ukrainian positions, but also tries to conceal losses of these people," Zelenskyy posted on X in English December 16. "And now, after first combats with our warriors, Russians are trying ... to literally burn the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in battle."

"There is not a single reason for North Koreans to die in this war. The only reason is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's madness, which has consumed Russia and fuels this war," Zelenskyy said in a statement the same day.

Bringing in North Koreans became necessary after Russia suffered huge casualties, analysts told Kontur.

"Considering that Russia's military vehicles and human resources are both being destroyed very efficiently, Putin had to ... pull in forces from third countries," said Yuriy Atanov, a lieutenant in Ukraine's 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade.

As of early October, about 115,000 Russians had been killed and 500,000 had been wounded, The New York Times reported, citing estimates by the Pentagon.

"North Korean casualties won't be reflected anywhere except in internal documentation," Atanov told Kontur.

Dozens of videos online show North Koreans fighting in Russia's Kursk province.

"The long-awaited North Koreans. ... They're not counting on drone activity. ... They carry their weapons like they're a Mosin-Nagant [an outmoded rifle]. It looks like they're using the same tactics as 70 years ago," Ukrainian troops deployed in Kursk province wrote about the North Koreans on Telegram December 15.

Odd tactics, behaviors

Analysts pointed out the North Koreans' odd tactics and behavior on the battlefield.

"What we saw [in videos available online] was a meat assault, an idiotic assault where they're just marching in a row through the field," Ivan Stupak, an analyst at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future and a former officer in Ukraine's security service, known as the SBU, told Kontur.

Serhiy Kuzan, director of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, was surprised to see how North Korean fighters reacted -- or more accurately, did not react -- to an artillery attack.

"There were parts of the video where shells were bursting a few dozen meters away from the North Koreans ... but they didn't react. They just kept moving at the same speed without even trying to find shelter," Kuzan told Kontur.

"You get the impression that they're not very well trained for combined arms and that they still haven’t grasped what they should be afraid of in war," he said.

"The North Korean fighters don't administer first aid to wounded soldiers," said Kuzan.

"Because first aid isn't being given and it takes a long time to evacuate the wounded, temporary casualties are turning into permanent ones," he said. "So this could suggest potential high losses of North Korean units as a result of wounds on the battlefield."

The North Koreans have also made fatal errors due to the language barrier.

"Because of this problem, North Korean soldiers opened 'friendly fire' on the vehicles of the so-called Ahmat battalion. As a result, they killed eight kadyrov soldiers," Ukrainian military intelligence wrote in English December 14, referring to Chechen paramilitaries.

"The language is specific [North Korean], and there aren't enough interpreters. So obviously there will be miscommunication," Atanov said.