Have North Korean fighters died in the Russia-Ukraine war?

Reports are emerging that thousands of North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded while fighting in the Ukraine war on Russia’s side.

Authorities in Ukraine, South Korea and the United States have all reported deaths among North Korean soldiers near Ukraine’s border in Russia’s Kursk.

Here is what we know so far about the reported deaths and why North Koreans could be fighting the war in Ukraine:

Have North Korean soldiers been sent to fight with Russian troops?

North Korea has denied sending either troops or weapons to assist Russia.

However, in February this year, former South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik told reporters that Pyongyang had sent Moscow about 6,700 containers carrying millions of munitions starting September 2023 in exchange for raw materials to manufacture weapons, alongside food.

On October 9, Ukraine’s army announced it hit a Russian weapons arsenal, which included weapons sent to Russia by North Korea.

Then, on October 16 this year, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told parliament that North Korea had become a “de facto participant” in the war between Ukraine and Russia. He added that Ukrainian intelligence had found that North Korea was not only transferring weapons, but also soldiers to Moscow.

United Kingdom-based Conflict Armament Research, which observed weapons used in conflict, told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on December 18 that Pyongyang is capable of producing ballistic missiles and supplying them to Moscow within months.

How many North Koreans are believed to have died in Ukraine?

Figures vary depending on who they come from.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X on Monday that Ukrainian forces had killed or wounded more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region.

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Today, the intelligence services presented their reports—the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine—as well as the Ministers of…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 23, 2024

Zelenskyy’s estimate is higher, however, than that of South Korea’s military officials, who said on Monday that at least 1,100 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded.

Seoul’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, reported on Thursday that of those, approximately 100 had been killed and 1,000 had been injured since they entered combat against Ukraine.

South Korean parliament member Lee Sung-kwon updated reporters on these figures last week, according to the BBC. He said that the casualties included high-ranking officials, and suggested that the soldiers died because they were unfamiliar with Russian terrain and drone warfare.

Al Jazeera has not been able to independently verify any of these casualty figures.

Why is North Korea sending troops to fight for Russia?

The US, Ukraine and South Korea allege that North Korean soldiers started arriving in Moscow in October this year, more than 2.5 years after the Ukraine war started in February 2022.

The Ukraine war is the first time the military of the isolated North Korea has intervened in a foreign conflict.

Commentary published in November by Washington-headquartered think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace suggested there are likely to be some short-term benefits for Pyongyang, including receiving much-needed supplies from Russia, including food, oil and money.

The BBC also reported that Seoul intelligence estimates Russia is paying North Korea $2,000 per soldier every month.

Edward Howell, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera that Russia, for its part, is likely to be open to having North Korean soldiers join its war in Ukraine because “we know that Russia needs manpower.”

Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean soldiers at the war front.

While Pyongyang initially dismissed the claims made by the US, South Korea and Ukraine, a North Korean official has since stated that a deployment of such nature would be lawful.

How many fighters have been sent and are more likely to go?

In late October, the Pentagon asserted that North Korea had sent some 10,000 soldiers to fight in the Ukraine war.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine believes more North Korean troops will join the Ukraine war.

“There are risks of North Korea sending additional troops and military equipment to the Russian army,” he posted on his X account on Monday after he received a report about this from his top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskii.

Have North Korea and Russia supported each other militarily in the past?

In June this year, Moscow and Pyongyang signed a mutual defence pact during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first state visit to North Korea in 24 years. That was ratified in November.

While the text of this agreement has not been released in full, it contains a clause that calls for Russia and North Korea to provide military assistance should one of them be attacked.

This has alarmed the US and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan. In June, the three countries released a joint statement expressing “grave concern” over the pact.

The US, Ukraine and South Korea have also alleged that North Korea has provided Russia with weapons, allegations denied by Moscow and Pyongyang.

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