By Olha Chepil | 2025-02-07

KYIV -- North Korean soldiers have been withdrawn from the front lines in Kursk province, Russia, after taking heavy losses from Ukrainian fire, analysts say.

Ukrainian troops entered Kursk province last August and have proved impossible to dislodge.

'Suicidal assaults'

The North Korean contingent in Russia -- whose deployment neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has confirmed -- was supposed to strengthen the Russian army.

But after almost half a year, commanders have yanked it from the front in Kursk province, where the Ukrainian military holds large expanses of Russian territory.

North Koreans have not been involved in combat in Kursk province since mid-January, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported February 4, citing South Korea's National Intelligence Service.

About 11,000 North Koreans were fighting in Kursk province in November, according to South Korean and Western estimates.

As of the end of January, about 5,000 of them -- more than 40% -- had been killed, wounded or captured, said Alexander Kovalenko, a correspondent with InfoResist in Odesa.

"Really, they have now stopped appearing there," Kovalenko told Kontur. "One story that has been put forward is that [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un himself is unhappy with the waste of manpower in Kursk province and seemingly pushed to end the use of North Koreans in assaults."

The Kremlin needed the North Koreans only for "suicidal assaults," say analysts.

"The Russians wanted to use them as ordinary cannon fodder. This isn't why the Koreans came," Viktor Yahun, former deputy director of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), told Kontur.

"They wanted there to be a whole unit that could learn something. That's why [North Korean commanders] took them off the front and are wondering what to do with them."

Putin's weak spots

Ukraine's offensive in Kursk represented an unwelcome milestone for Moscow.

For the first time since World War II, a foreign army has crossed into Russian territory, to the embarrassment of President Vladimir Putin. During the Kursk operation, Ukraine captured dozens of border towns.

Of the three brigades of North Koreans who came to reinforce Russian troops, one was destroyed and two have suffered heavy losses, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Associated Press in an interview February 2.

"I don't know how many losses they sustained, but [their commanders] haven't been letting them go on assaults now," Zelenskyy said of the three ravaged brigades. "They'll probably let them go [away for regrouping], rebuild them, etc. This could happen any day."

A missile strike by Ukraine on January 31 hit a central command post and killed dozens of Russian and North Korean officers, he added.

Control of Kursk province is a negotiation trump card for Ukraine, as well as a way to pin down Russian forces, say analysts.

The Russians had to redeploy a significant number of their best troops to Kursk province.

"Ninety thousand [the Russians sent to Kursk] is a significant number of servicemen who could have ended up anywhere ... in Ukrainian territory," said Kovalenko.

"This is very important for Ukraine. And it's also very important for Putin. If Putin has weak spots, he won't start the negotiation process ... And Kursk province is a weak spot."

'I haven't seen them alive'

Russian prisoners of war captured in Kursk province report significant casualties among the North Koreans.

Ukrainian paratroopers recently captured a member of the Russian 11th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade in Makhnovka village, Kursk province.

His unit had orders to hold a small district near the village, he said, adding that the North Koreans advanced before his unit did.

"I've seen only dead Koreans. Many. I've seen them on the streets. But I haven't seen them alive," the prisoner said in a video released by the Ukrainian military on February 2.

The Kremlin has abandoned the North Koreans to their fate since their arrival at the front, say analysts.

North Koreans attacked Ukrainian positions in overly small groups of 20, 40 or 60, making themselves easy targets. If gravely injured, they are under orders to detonate a suicide grenade to avoid capture.

"They have been ordered not to surrender, and they really are killing themselves," said Yahun. "God only knows what's going on in their heads. They're all tightly controlled."

Of the almost 5,000 North Korean casualties, only two have been captured, which happened January 9.

At the time of his capture, one had a Russian military ID issued in the name of somebody else registered in the Russian internal republic of Tuva. The other detainee had no documents.

Pyongyang had classified the pair "as intelligence officers" even though they were not generating any worthwhile intelligence, said Yahun.

N. Koreans might be back

North Korea may send more soldiers to Russia despite the significant losses, observers say.

"The Russians want to regain control of Kursk province," said Kovalenko, estimating that "the second wave of North Koreans will arrive in Russia in the next month."

"And the preliminary training will probably take in a week or two. So I think that in about a month and a half we can expect a new Russian offensive in Kursk province."

That said, it remains unclear how the Kremlin will pay for this potential assistance and whether Pyongyang provides it.

"Kim Jong Un may raise the price tag on the next deliveries of North Korean troops," said Kovalenko. "So for now the Russians are waiting to assemble the forces and means for a second attack."