'At least 100 N Korea soldiers killed' in Russia war

At least 100 North Koreans deployed to support Russia's war effort in Ukraine have been killed since entering combat in December, South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters Thursday.

Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.

"In December, they (North Korean troops) engaged in actual combat, during which at least 100 fatalities occurred," Lee said, speaking after a briefing by South Korea's spy agency.

"The National Intelligence Service also reported that the number of injured is expected to reach nearly 1,000."

Despite those losses, the agency also said it had detected signs North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was preparing to train a new special operations force to ship westward.

Lee noted that the North's elite Storm Corps — from which the initial deployment was drawn — had "the capacity to send reinforcements."

The NIS also predicted "that Russia might offer reciprocal benefits" for a new deployment, Lee said, including "modernising North Korea's conventional weaponry."

The lawmaker added that "several North Korean casualties" had already been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks and training accidents, with the highest ranking "at least at the level of a general."

The NIS said the high number of casualties could be attributed to the "unfamiliar battlefield environment, where North Korean forces are being utilised as expendable frontline assault units, and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks," said Lee.

Burden or asset?

"Within the Russian military, complaints have reportedly surfaced that the North Korean troops,...